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German Tawandang (German Beer Garden Rama III)
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Monday night I took three Thai girls out to Tawandang on Rama III to celebrate a birthday. I had been to Tawandang at Intra Rama about 19 months ago, and the two venues are similar.
Seating capacity is around 1,600 people and the reports I get from my Thai friends who go there frequently is that on Friday and Saturday nights every seat is taken. Last night, though, the upstairs mezzanine area wasn’t open, and the ground floor seemed to be about 85% full — I’m guessing a shade under 1,000 people. Not bad for a Monday night.
There’s the usual blend of food, drinks and entertainment that is commonly found in these large venues aimed at the middle class Thai crowd. But what is special about Tawandang is that they operate a microbrewery on-site. They offer three styles of beer and a glass wall that offers a look into the brewing area.
I didn’t look at the menu; I just let my dinner companions choose the food, but what ended up on the table was a good selection of typical Thai food. I did order the beer, and through the course of the night we sampled all three styles of beer, consuming 10 litres between the four of us. The beer was excellent.
The entertainment started out around 7 in the evening with singers performing Thai ballads and love songs, with a few English songs mixed in.
Around 8 p.m. a group playing traditional Thai instruments took the stage and provided a very nice cultural experience.
At 9 p.m. the ’show’ began with a scaled down version of Nicole Kidman’s entrance in the movie Moulin Rouge. There was energetic singing and dancing with an American feel to it, with most (maybe all) of the songs in English.
Later in the evening, the stage show turned into a group of musicians playing popular Thai songs, with singers rotating on and off the stage — a format that will be familiar to anyone who frequents Thai entertainment venues. By midnight I was standing up at my table dancing with my dinner partner, pretending to know the words to the songs, and waving my arms around with 1,000 Thai customers and staff who all appeared to be as drunk as me. It was fun.
As is common in Thailand, the Thai fellow at the table next to me introduced himself around 10 p.m. and then chatted amiably with me for about thirty minutes. He introduced his five dinner companions, and did his best to tell me the life story for each of them. We drank many rounds with glasses clicking and “Cheers!” being shouted by both tables, and soon my small party seemed to blend with theirs to form one big party. The conversation continued until we all stood up and started dancing.
The four of us in my party consumed LOTS of food, 10 litres of beer, enjoyed good entertainment and found ourselves dancing and singing at the end of the night. The bill was around 3,800 baht. All in all, good value and lots of fun.
I recommend Tawandang to anyone who wants to see how a typical working Thai spends his leisure hours. There were occasional white faces in the crowd — perhaps 1 in 3o. The service staff seemed comfortable in English, and there were a few English songs being sung, so even if you don’t speak Thai you should be okay.
Speaking of the Thai language, the name of the restaurant in Thai is Rawng Bia Yierman Dtawan Daeng which translates — roughly — to The Red Sun German Beer Garden or literally to Room Beer German Sun Red. Because there is a popular bar in Bangkok called Issaan Tawndang most Thai people simply refer to this one as German Tawandang when speaking English. If you are taking a taxi, ask for the German Tawandang at Rama III.
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