55th Floor % Arabica in Bangkok
One thing Eriko loves to do when traveling is find a tall building with a special viewing area, go up there, and take pictures of the city from above. We’ve done the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the whatever it’s called in Venice, the Eureka Tower in Melbourne (named, of course, after Eureka O’Hara), and the Skytree in Tokyo. Naturally, when we visited Bangkok, we wanted to do the same.
There are some really tall buildings in Bangkok, one of which has a special space where you can take photos and stand on a transparent floor to look down on the city below. We wanted to visit it, but before we did, we wanted coffee because why not. And it turns out that just a couple blocks away was a location of a Japanese coffee chain that we absolutely love.
How to find % Arabica at Empire Tower
% Arabica is a Japanese coffee chain that has quickly spread around the world, with several locations in Bangkok. We initially visited Arabica in Kyoto on one of our first special days together, so it holds a unique place in our hearts. Also, we just love coffee, and coffee + high places is a natural fit for us.
This particular location is at Empire Tower, which is in a very business-y area of Bangkok. We used the Grab rideshare app the entire time we were there, so we summoned a car to take us from breakfast at The Commons to Empire Tower.
The tower is HUGE, and has several entrances, which can be confusing for a rideshare driver. Our guy got a ticket and drove through an entire parking garage before figuring out he was at the garage for the building next door, then circled the entire big city block before dropping us out front. And when we went inside, we were astonished by how big the space was. There’s basically a whole mall in there. You must walk through this mall all the way to the back, where the big tower is. This is a functioning office/residential tower, so you need a pass to get to the elevators. Wherever is a young boy to go?
After asking at the help desk, we learned Arabica and the other 55th floor restaurants have a special entrance and elevator at an area called EA Gallery. We fought through the sea of people to get to the lower level, then followed the signs for EA. There is a dedicated elevator just to take people up to the 55th floor, and it is really cool.
There’s a whole darkened entrance and flashy decorations for a set of elevators that are just for the few restaurants up on the 55th floor. It’s unnecessary but was quite fun. It made the experience seem special. We rode the fancy elevator up to the 55th floor where there were a couple nice restaurants that looked a bit pricey, but we were there for the cool coffee shop.
% Arabica on the 55th floor at Empire Tower
You’re not likely to miss % Arabica - it’s big and white (like me) and full of coffee (like me, usually). The decorations are as flashy as everything else at the tower, meant to stand out, and there are big windows to show the view of the Bangkok skyline.
The prices were fairly reasonable considering this must be an expensive place to put a cafe. We didn’t have to wait long for our lattes, which were EXTREMELY tasty - maybe the best latte I had in all of Bangkok. There were a lot of people there, and they were ALL filming, because of course they were. But after waiting for only a few minutes, someone left and we were able to snag some window seats.
View of Bangkok from % Arabica
The coffee was delicious and the air conditioning was a pleasant respite from the Bangkok heat, but the reason to come here is for the views. You can look out on the city and see far and wide, and no one seems to care if you take a bunch of selfies and videos. Many customers had selfie sticks and were basically ignoring their coffees, which seems like a rude thing to do to a poor cup of coffee.
The counter is a mirror that reflects the sky, meaning you can place your coffee on top of it and it looks like your cup is floating in the clouds. We took lots of pictures and leisurely enjoyed our coffee. This is exactly what we had hoped for. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we didn’t feel the need to go to the other skyscraper viewing space, which would have cost us $25 a person instead of just the price of a latte each.
Conclusion: is % Arabica at Empire Tower worth visiting?
The negatives for this place would be that it’s not in a place you’re likely to find yourself as a tourist, meaning you have to make a special effort to go here. But it’s not that far from Warehouse 30 and other places we wanted to go, and while it was tough to find, it wasn’t THAT tough. The other downside is that there are only so many seats at the window and I’m sure it can get crowded at peak times. Go early.
The coffee was amazing, the views were amazing, I was amazing. % Arabica is just a great place. We had a lot of coffee in Bangkok, and I think this was the best. If you’re a fan of coffee, views from high up, and sitting, this is the place for you. If you hate those things, then I’m not sure why you read this far. One billion stars for % Arabica at Empire Tower.
Location
Address: Level 55, EA, Empire Tower, 1 S Sathon Rd, Yan Nawa, Sathon, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
Phone: +66 65-937-2100
% Arabica is at Empire Tower, which is not far from Chong Nonsi and St. Louis stations. However, rideshare is very cheap in Bangkok, so we recommend trying Grab to make things easier.
