A 127-year-old European-style building in the old quarter that once printed the Royal Gazette and countless tomes has opened its doors as a cafe serving quality coffee and cocktails.
Founded in 1895 during the reign of King Rama V, the Bumrungnukulkit Printing House is now welcoming customers to sip brews at a pop-up cafe called Craftsman at Bumrungmuang.
The building was only minimally renovated to preserve its original appearance, according to Netnapa “Waew” Narathatsachan, founder of Craftsman Roastery.
Now until September, Netnapa’s team have taken over the building to serve caffeinated drinks with highlights including Mocha Yuzu (THB150), Dirty (THB125), and Spiced Latte (THB145) using beans grown at home and abroad and roasted in-house. To go with the drinks, the cafe makes a walnut pie (THB135), creamy chicken pie (THB150), and banana cake (THB135).
The cafe can immediately pivot to bar offering alcoholic drinks, too. Kant Liangsrisuk of The Dag eatery has designed cocktails named after characters from British period crime drama Peaky Blinders. The Changretta, for example, pairs carrot, yellow bell pepper and pineapple with spiced rum. Another signature cocktail, Tommy, is a pick-me-up thanks to its clarified milk punch, cold brew coffee, pineapple juice, and thyme leaf.
This is not the first time Craftsman Roastery has been slinging the mud at a historic building. In 2018, the team opened a cafe inside the former neo-Renaissance mansion of Corrado Feroci, Thailand’s Italian-born “father of modern art” known widely by his Thai name Silpa Bhirasri. It operated there three years.
Craftsman at Bamrungmuang Pop-up Cafe is located inside the Bumrungnukulkit Priting House on Bamrungmuang Road in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district. From now until September, the cafe is open 7:30am to 6pm from Monday through Thursday, and 7:30am until midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
