Atmospheric riverside café in a 200-year-old Talat Noi mansion, filled with antiques, live music and sunset views over the Chao Phraya.
Hong Sieng Kong is where Talat Noi’s old trading warehouses turn into one of Bangkok’s most atmospheric riverside cafés. Behind a bright blue street façade, a series of 200-year-old Sino-Portuguese buildings opens into antique-filled halls and a long gravel garden that runs straight to the Chao Phraya. You order at the entrance counter, then wander past wooden beams, vintage cabinets and little gallery corners until the river view appears: boats sliding by, towers across the water and a canopy of trees overhead. It’s part café, part open-air living room for the neighbourhood’s new creative energy.
Spend a little time exploring before you sit down. Inside, Hong Sieng Kong feels like a lived-in gallery: spiral staircases, old floor tiles, weathered brick walls wrapped in fig roots and carefully curated Chinese and Thai antiques from the owner’s collection. Some pieces have even been shown at The Siam Hotel, so you’re essentially having coffee inside a very relaxed design museum. Seating is scattered through indoor nooks and out into the courtyard, where string lights, trees and mismatched benches keep things easy-going rather than precious.
The menu leans café-style but with a Thai-Chinese twist. Expect signature drinks like Talat Noi Orange Coffee – espresso over fresh orange juice – alongside iced coconut coffees, teas, sodas and a small line-up of cakes, puddings and light savoury plates. In the late afternoon, craft beers and live music on certain days turn the riverfront terrace into a laid-back sundowner spot, with views across to ICONSIAM and the big river hotels. It’s less about elaborate food and more about mood: you come here to slow down, watch the boats and soak up one of Bangkok’s most photogenic pieces of “old town meets new café culture”.