Ekkamai’s Featherstone Bistro Cafe provides Insta-worthy twee setting — and taste to boot

Presentation is everything at this Ekkamai cafe, which bills itself as a bistro, cafe, and lifestyle shop with a mystical bent. Featherstone first gained lots of attention for its Instagram-worthy sodas and drinks, which come presented on a tray for customers to mix together themselves.  Beyond that, there’s also a full food menu and a boutique selling large hats, crystal pendants, taxidermied animals — you know, on-trend witchy stuff.

Currently, the crowd that comes here looks like a mix of Thai fashionistas not drinking the brightly-colored sodas they’re posing with, and a smattering of aspiring bloggers busily snapping photos. If you can get past that, the food is good and the staff is wonderful. Most of the ones we spoke to had perfect English (they hail from the Philippines), and gave us a great welcome — pulling out chairs, opening doors, the works.

We started with one of the famed sodas, which they call their “sparkling apothecary” tipples. Yes, we went with the most colorful of them all: the mermaid drink (THB150). We also took the waiters’ suggestion and added a shot of gin (THB120) to the mix. It arrived in separate components, partially for aesthetics, but also so you can control the sweetness of your drink, the waiter told us. This was great since we don’t like our drinks particularly sweet.

The drink arrived with a glass filled with ice and purple flower petals, to which we added a third of the purple syrup in the tiny bottle labeled “pour me,” all of the gin, and topped it off with soda, giving it a stir and a slurp. It tasted great and the aromatics of the gin gave a great boost to the concoction.

We also tried an Americano with a shot of Kahlua (THB180), which came with a similar DIY setup.

For appetizers, we tried homemade liver pate with bread (THB195) and parmesan baked spinach (THB195).

The pate was a classic, savory, rich spread served with toasted baguette slices that could be topped with fresh green peppercorns to provide heat, candied orange peel for sweetness, and cornichons for sourness. It made one of our dining companions drop his head and close his eyes upon his first bite. Dramatic? Yes, yes, a little. But it was just that good.

The baked spinach was pure comfort food. It tasted rich, warm, and bitter — though it could have used a bit more salt. It was the perfect dish for the rainy afternoon we were looking at through the window.

Next up was woodland salad (THB290), another highly photographable dish thanks to the colorful, edible flowers on top. The crisp apples, salty feta, and rich nuts made it a pleasing combination of contrasts.

The miele pizza (THB280) also had an interesting pairing: marinara sauce along with apples, honey, almonds, brie and mozzarella. Many kitchens would choose to omit the tangy red sauce on a sweet pizza, but this can be a mistake that makes a pie one-dimensional and cloying. The version at Featherstone Bistro was great.

Their signature cheeseburger with caramelized onion and candied bacon (THB295), however, was far too sweet. We removed the candied bacon altogether, thinking it would only really be appropriate for some kind of bacon-themed dessert.

 

The linguine alle vongole (THB290) was both a hit and a miss. The clams were overcooked but the pasta was perfect al dente. The flavor of thyme featured prominently in the sauce, which some may find off-putting, but personally, I liked it that way.

Dessert was less contentious at our table. We shared a slice of one of the best, freshest-tasting banoffee pies (THB120) I’ve ever had. It was prepared with fresh whipped cream, a chocolate cookie crust, and a pudding layer that was bitter and dense, with a consistency between instant pudding and ganache. It was actually one of the only dishes of the day that wasn’t a bit too sweet.

To finish off the Featherstone experience, the staff lets you choose a feather with a fortune on it as you leave.

FIND IT:

Featherstone Bistro cafe and Lifestyle Shop
60 Ekkamai Soi 12
Daily, 10:30am-10pm (the kitchen closes between 3:30pm-5:30pm when you can only order drinks and desserts)
BTS Ekkamai



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