Phrom Phong: the Em District and the sois behind it

Phrom Phong is one BTS stop east of Asok and two stops west of Thong Lo, and in practice it means the stretch of Sukhumvit between about Soi 24 and Soi 43. The station sits directly on top of the Emporium, which is why the district is often called the Em District now.

The geography is simple once someone tells you. Even-numbered sois run south off Sukhumvit toward Rama 4; odd-numbered sois run north toward Phetchaburi. South is where Soi 22 and 24 sit, along with Benjasiri Park and EmSphere. North is the residential half: Sois 31 to 49, low-rise, leafy, and full of restaurants with no English signage.

That north-south split is the whole neighbourhood in one sentence. Shopping and hotels on the main road, actual life one block back.

They are not interchangeable, and picking wrong costs you an afternoon. The Emporium is the oldest and the calmest: department store on the lower floors, a good bookshop, and the least crowded of the three on a weekend. It is the one to use if you want to buy something specific and leave.

EmQuartier, across the road and connected by skywalk, is the spectacle. Three linked buildings around a spiral of restaurants, a waterfall dropping through the middle, and a rooftop garden most visitors never find because it is above the top floor of shops. Go up there. It is free, it is quiet, and the view down Sukhumvit at dusk is better than several paid ones.

EmSphere is the newest and the one aimed at people who are not shopping. The draw is the market hall on the lower level and a rooftop arena that runs events, and the food is more interesting and less expensive than the other two. If you want dinner rather than retail, start here.

Wedged between the Emporium and Sukhumvit Road, Benjasiri is small, about eleven acres, and does more work than parks five times its size. It was built for the King's sixtieth birthday, and the sculpture collection scattered through it is the reason to walk rather than cut across.

It is also where you see the neighbourhood being a neighbourhood. Takraw games on the courts in the late afternoon, an outdoor gym that is genuinely used, a public pool, and an aerobics class by the pond at around six in the evening that anyone can join and that a surprising number of guests end up joining.

Best at either end of the day. Come at seven in the morning for the tai chi and the quiet, or at six in the evening for the noise. In the middle of the day it is a hot lawn and you would rather be in the mall thirty seconds away.

Cross to the north side and the volume drops within one block. Soi 39 is the widest and busiest of the three, lined with clinics, dental surgeries and the kind of mid-size restaurant that fills with families on a Sunday. Soi 41 and Soi 43 are narrower and quieter, mostly low-rise apartment blocks with a scatter of shops at the mouth.

This is where a long stay can make sense if you find the right serviced apartment. For a few nights near the Em District, Arawana Express Sukhumvit 22 and Arawana Regency Park Sukhumvit sit on Soi 22 instead — quieter than the main road, still a short BTS ride from Phrom Phong. Past about a month, Arawana Living is the long-stay product to ask about.

The honest catch, and we would rather say it than have you discover it: these sois are long. From the far end of Soi 43 back to the BTS is a proper walk, and there are stretches with imperfect pavement. Motorcycle taxis wait at the mouth of every soi for exactly this reason and cost very little. Use them and stop feeling guilty about it.

The mall coffee is fine and costs what mall coffee costs. One soi back it gets better and cheaper, which is the pattern for almost everything in this neighbourhood.

Sarnies on Soi 37 is the anchor: a converted house with its own roastery, proper brunch, and enough space that nobody minds if you sit for two hours. It is the one we send guests to when they ask where to work for a morning, because the wifi holds and the tables are big enough for a laptop and a plate.

Ryoku on Soi 35 is the smaller, quieter alternative if you want a flat white and a bench rather than a full breakfast. Between the two you have most mornings covered without crossing Sukhumvit. The wider café list is in 8 cafes around Sukhumvit 22.

If you eat one proper meal in Phrom Phong, make it northeastern. Isaan food (som tam, grilled chicken, larb, sticky rice) is the everyday cooking of most of Bangkok, and it is the thing visitors most often miss because it is not what the hotel restaurants serve.

Somtum Der is the reliable introduction, close to the station and used to explaining itself. Order the som tam Thai if you are unsure and som tam pla ra if you are not, and be honest with the staff about chilli. 'Not spicy' here still arrives with a kick, and 'Thai spicy' is a genuine commitment.

The rule for the rest of the sois: if a place is full of Thai office workers at one in the afternoon and has one dish written largest on the sign, eat there. That single-dish specialisation is the strongest quality signal in the city. More options are in 11 Thai restaurants in Sukhumvit worth the walk.

This one is not in Phrom Phong and we are not going to pretend it is. Sukhumvit Plaza, the building everyone calls Korean Town, sits at Soi 12 near Asok, which is one BTS stop and a short walk from here.

It is worth the trip. Three floors of Korean restaurants, grocers and barbecue in a slightly worn building that has been doing this since long before Korean food was fashionable in Bangkok. The barbecue places on the upper floors are where to go with a group; the ground-floor spots are quicker and cheaper.

Mentioning it here because it is the most common thing guests at Phrom Phong ask about and then fail to find, having searched for a district rather than a single building. It is a building. Get off at Asok, walk to Soi 12, look for the plaza.

The best walk near this neighbourhood is not in this neighbourhood, and it is worth the one-stop hop. Benjakitti Forest Park is a former tobacco monopoly site rebuilt as constructed wetland, with an elevated boardwalk running above the water and a skybridge connecting through to Lumphini Park.

It changed what evenings look like on this side of town. You can walk or run several kilometres without crossing a road, which in central Bangkok is close to unheard of, and the light at about half past five turns the reeds and the towers behind them gold.

Take the MRT to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, or walk it from Asok. Bring water, because the shade is patchy and the boardwalk is exposed.

This is the genuinely useful question about a residential district, and the one no mall guide answers. Phrom Phong is not a late neighbourhood. The malls close around ten, and the sois behind them wind down earlier than visitors expect.

What stays open: the convenience stores, obviously, and they are everywhere. The street food carts at the mouths of Soi 38 and the odd sois run into the evening. The restaurants on Soi 39 mostly take a last order around ten. A handful of bars on Soi 33 go later, and Thong Lo two stops east goes considerably later.

So if you want a late night, plan to leave the neighbourhood: it is a five-minute train ride to Thong Lo and a short Grab home. If you want to sleep, this is one of the quietest addresses on the whole Sukhumvit line, which is exactly why people stay a month here rather than a weekend.

BTS Phrom Phong is the station, and it puts you one stop from Asok, where the MRT crosses. That interchange is the reason this district works: from Asok the subway reaches Chinatown, Hua Lamphong and the old town without going near a road.

From the airport, the Airport Rail Link runs to Phaya Thai or Makkasan and you change to the BTS or MRT. It is far cheaper than a taxi and immune to the traffic, which matters most at exactly the hours a taxi is worst. A car from Suvarnabhumi is reasonable at ten in the morning and a poor idea at six in the evening.

Within the neighbourhood, walk on the main road and take a motorbike taxi down the long sois. The fare for the length of Soi 39 or 43 is small, the drivers wait at the mouth in orange vests, and it turns a hot fifteen-minute walk into two minutes.