Down a steep wooden staircase, past a caged iguana in a tiny dai pai dong noodle bar, a hostess pulls back a curtain revealing a cavernous room of dark leather couches and asparagus-green velvet chairs. Welcome to Maggie Choo’s (Hotel Novotel Felix Silom, 320 Silom Rd.; 66-2/635-6055), Bangkok’s current go-to nightspot and the latest local venture by tattooed Australian bar maestro Ashley Sutton. Filled with period detailing, the basement club is a reimagined Shanghai-style cabaret circa 1931, complete with cheongsam-clad ladies who sit coyly on padded swings or wink and wave from opium beds above a bar that serves perfectly mixed drinks. If that sounds too louche, grab a seat behind the steel vault doors of one of several private rooms, which are drenched in decadent red, green, and lavender light. Live music-jazz, blues, fusion-plus Chinese magicians and other acts add to the ambience. Plan on a long night.  –Paul Ehrlich

This piece appeared in the August/September 2013 issue as “Radar”