som saa is kicking off 2017 with a series of monthly late night sessions. Inspired by the after-service nightlife available in cities like Bangkok and New York, owners Tom George, Andy Oliver and Mark Dobbie are launching monthly ‘som saa lates’ – bringing together a late night food offering, rotating DJ’s and a bar that’s open until the early hours.
Once regular service has wound down, instead of closing the doors, the som saa kitchen team will stoke the grills back up and keep the woks going. The after-hours menu will focus on thai street food classics. From the wok section, will come dishes like ‘Khao Pad Naem,’ combining fermented pork, Asian celery and fried rice and the street stall classic ‘Pad Grapow Gai’ with chicken, snake beans, holy basil, crispy egg and plenty of chilli, stir-fried and served over rice. From the pestle and mortar, ‘Som Tum Kai Kem’ – a spicy green papaya salad bolstered with salted duck egg and the side option of ‘mu waan’ – candied sweet pork cooked in palm sugar, fish sauce and spices. As for salads, diners can expect dishes like ‘Laab Pla’ a fish-based Northern Thai classic of minced fish, roasted rice powder and Isaan herbs. Paying tribute to a street food staple, ‘Gai Yaang’ sees coconut smoked grilled chicken chopped with a cleaver and served alongside a tamarind dipping sauce.
Open until 1:30am the som saa bar will be serving Asian brews supported by Singha and craft Camden Brewery tank beer, whilst mixing cocktails like ‘Muay Thai Kick’ with thai basil, kaffir lime leaf, basil seeds and lime in a gin based cocktail, and ‘Krahang Old Fashioned’ which combines sandalwood smoked bourbon, palm sugar gomme and mandarin peel for sharpness. Plus there will be monthly rotating late night cocktail specials designed with a little extra attitude to match the fiery street food coming from the kitchen, and for the ‘lates’ only, the bar will be serving ice buckets with Thai whiskey and soda – a nighttime favourite from the streets of Bangkok (and one we surely all remember from our backpacking days!).
The soundtrack will by no means be background, the boys at som saa take a real interest in music and the som saa lates will reflect this. The decks will be coming out and each month different DJ’s will be playing vinyl until late. You can expect the likes of Chris Menist from record label Paradise Bangkok, NTS favourite Fergus McDonald, Hollick of Corisca Studios and No Bad Days, and Pete from On The Corner records – digging through their vinyl collections playing everything from house and hip hop to old Thai funk and East African folk music.
Saturday 4th February Late Night Session: 11pm-till late
4th March, 1st April… and the first Saturday of every month thereafter!
