Joel Quenby

Kooky but cool

This “boutique lifestyle emporium” is tucked away off Bangkok’s Khaosarn Road (down the same little alleyway as the more heavily advertised Tom Yum Kung restaurant, towards the temple end of the street).

Once you’re up the alley, you can’t miss the grammatically loopy It’s Happened to be a Closet: the extraordinary black building looms over a pleasant alfresco dining area like Cruella de Vil’s sinister gothic mansion (cue lighting and thunder-crack).

 Inside, though, you’ll find a mad bric-a-brac brew of funky girly fashions (vintage hippy-chick threads); trendy accessories (books on art, travel, food and design); pricey foot massage (Bt650 an hour) and salon services; manned by cooler-than-thou staff. There’s also an arty one-page menu that manages to cram in a surprisingly comprehensive (57 items, to be precise) selection of gourmet Italian and Mediterranean cuisine.

 The scallop salad seemed to be off, to be mysteriously replaced by some resoundingly big and juicy (and, until just now, presumed absent) scallops dunked in cheesy baked spinach. The ravioli of the day on Bangkok 101’s visit was mushroom; flat pasta parcels with just the right amount of al dente bite. Some sloppy ordering brought the oven duck breast in plum sauce instead of the trout, but these things happen.

There are various dining areas; quirky nooks and crannies tucked snugly away. There’s the Mafia Room, a quasi-basement attired with a vintage record player, wine refrigerator, fine Cuban cigars (Cohibo Siglo IVs, for those who know about these things), piles of magazines, a backgammon set and piano. Or you can dine at the antique enamelled Chinese table; or at the high table in the modern open-plan kitchen itself. 

The Girl with a Pearl Earring played on a discreet wall-mounted screen with its audio amplified into adjoining rooms – while a photographer wound down his on-site shoot. The place has been heavily stylized to impart a kitsch-yet-still-homey feel – albeit the home of the fashion cognoscenti or perhaps a slightly bonkers but very cool aunt who refuses to grow up, bless ‘er.