Porcupine Cafe Soi Ari Bangkok – Warming Up for 2020!

With only 11 days left in 2019, I’m getting excited to begin my challenge of exploring 52 coffee brews in 2020. To help me warm up for the challenge, I decided to get an early start while traveling in Thailand.

Our trip in Thailand began with a few days in Bangkok to sleep off a little jet lag and explore the crowded city on foot. Our first morning was spent riding the BTS Skytrain to visit Jim Thompson House and the Chatuchak Weekend Market before making our way down to the Ari neighborhood for lunch and coffee. 

Soi Ari isn’t the most well known Bangkok neighborhood for visitors, but it is quickly growing in popularity due to its hip mix of restaurants, cafes, and boutique shops. Ari is located north of the main attractions in Bangkok and can be easily reached via the Ari stop on the Sukhumvit Line of the BTS Skytrain.

We had worked up quite an appetite from our morning of site seeing, and decided to stop for lunch as our first line of order in Ari. The fantastic Lay Lao Restaurant fit the bill perfectly with it’s wonderful menu and three levels of dining space providing views of the surrounding neighborhood. 

After lunch at Lay Lao, we took a walk in search for coffee and stumbled upon the Porcupine Cafe. The Porcupine Cafe is a cozy little shop with a soothing ambiance, great service, and superb coffee.

I had planned on walking in to Porcupine Cafe and quickly finding a seat for myself, Julia, and Owen so we could get off of our feet. That didn’t quite workout as I was quickly carried away by the interior design of this awesome little coffee shop. There were antlers hanging from the ceiling, bikes hanging on the walls, books and bottles decorating the shelves, and a crisp warm light blanketing the interior from the large full length windows. 

After walking around the shop and taking a few pictures, I got around to ordering a drink. I opted for a double shot of espresso, the perfect elixir for the 15 hour time difference between Los Angeles and Bangkok. 

From the cafe, we continued our exploration of Bangkok and had the energy to make it all the way into the night for the Ratchada Rot Fai Train Night Market. Day one was a fantastic start to our two weeks in Thailand.