We put on another Colloquium in Bangkok last week — the second edition of our new(ish) event series that patches together elements of a panel discussion, Happy Hour, and casual Coconuts-flavored meetup.
It’s our own little Frankenstein of what we wish after-work events would look like, and we’ve been chuffed to chat with all the cool personalities on our panels and COCO+ members in each city we’ve held a Colloquium in so far.
With our inaugural event in Singapore, we got to talking about the country’s influencer scene — namely, about how it’s impacting the traditional media landscape and the (mostly) shady business behind influencer marketing. Gossip was exchanged. Shots were taken. You had to be there.
For the second Colloquium in Bangkok, we directed our attention towards the city’s food scene, pulling together a panel of notable restaurateurs, content creators, and creatives from within local F&B circles to dish some real talk on the following question:
From Michelin Stars to street food bans — what’s wrong (and what’s right) with Bangkok’s food scene today?
Our panelists were Varatt Vichit-Vadakan, founder of Think Beyond, which focuses on producing locally roasted specialty grade coffee from bean to cup. You’ve probably been to one of his F&B concepts: Roast Coffee & Eatery, Roots Coffee Roaster, or The Commons in Thong Lo.
We were also joined by Honey Falcioni, co-founder and owner of Daniel Thaiger, the city’s original gourmet food truck that started the now ubiquitous trend throughout the city. Since its humble beginnings in 2013, it’s become one of Bangkok’s favorite food spots with multiple outlets across the city.
On the content side of things, we had personal chef/caterer Gary Butler and social media guru Prathana Pawa, the creators of The Roaming Cook and EatDrinkBKK, respectively. While Varatt and Honey gave us great insight into the inner workings of the restaurant industry, Gary and Prathana were able to fill us in about the world of influencers, media coverage, and big-name gourmet guides like The Michelin Guide and 50 Best Restaurants.
Our guests were just as great as our panelists, jumping in to discuss things like the idea of what makes food “authentic” and the ways in which The Michelin Guide to Bangkok disappointed. We also talked about the issue of transparency and credibility of such guides, as well as the local media outlets that produce dining and lifestyle reviews in town.
We won’t divulge the dirty deets (we promised to provide a safe, off-the-record space, after all), but we can say that some of the most hilarious quotes of the evening got dropped when we started talking about gimmicky food trends and Tripadvisor complaints.
We’ll be hosting more Coconuts Colloquiums on similarly juicy topics, and if you’re into that kind of thing, then we’d love to have you there, and to get more giveaways and gifts into the hands of our COCO+ members.
Our goody bags last week had some pretty cool tidbits like Coconuts-printed notebooks, COCO+ vouchers, and bizarre (but awesome) Thai food flavored candy courtesy of local candy crafters Minidish.
The Colloquiums, as with all of our events and parties, are free to attend for COCO+ members — if that strikes your fancy, then sign up to our COCO+ membership program and we’ll catch you at our next one.
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