Best bars in Silom.

Top three are the global-postcard rooms. Middle is the working rotation. Bottom is the second-stop, slower, more local option for a Tuesday.

The 63rd-floor rooftop made famous by The Hangover Part II is still one of the highest open-air bars in Bangkok. The Hangovertini exists because tourists ask for it. Skip the hype, take the Champagne Flight, and sit at the gold dome at the corner of the deck. Dress code is enforced.

Vertigo at Banyan Tree sits on the 61st floor and feels like a yacht moored above Sathorn. The Bangkok 75 is the right pour. Two seatings most nights, the second is calmer. Wind permitting. Book at least two days ahead on weekends or you eat at the lower-level Moon Bar.

The 29th-floor rooftop of the Sofitel So on North Sathorn Road, looking over Lumphini Park. The Park 75 is the order. Open daily from 6pm. The half-moon outdoor lounge is where to sit. Less crowded than Sky Bar on a Tuesday, and the drinks list runs deeper.

Italian-Thai dining with a cocktail program serious enough to stand on its own. The Vesper Martini is sharp, balanced, and exactly what Ian Fleming was after. Convent Road location, dark wood, low banquettes. Best as the second stop of the night, not the first.

A Silom cocktail bar built around a single 80-page drinks menu and a long marble counter. The Aviary Highball is the place to start. Closed Mondays. The crowd is half Sathorn business, half curious travellers, and the bartenders will take requests if you give them room.

The grand dame of Bangkok cocktail bars sits inside the Mandarin Oriental, polished teak and live jazz five nights a week. Order the Mahanakhon Daiquiri and you taste the city through one glass. Arrive early on a weekday, take a sofa near the bandstand, and treat the place like the institution it is.

An underground bar in the basement of the Novotel on Silom Road, themed around a fictional 1930s Shanghai opium den. The Maggie's Punch is the order. Live music every night, burlesque on Wednesdays. The drinks are decent, the room is the reason to come.

A small Charoen Krung bar built around rum and tropical flavours, run by an Australian-Thai team that takes the program seriously. The Tropic Sour is the entry point. Closed Mondays. The crowd is mostly locals and the kind of travellers who read drinks lists before booking flights.

A Charoen Krung 32 hideout with peeling concrete walls and a soundtrack that runs from soul to disco to early house. The Bad Old Fashioned is the order. Wednesday through Sunday. The kind of room that makes a Tuesday night feel like a story you tell later.

The Back Room sits behind the kitchen of an unmarked Charoen Krung restaurant. The bartender opens at 9pm. The menu changes weekly. The Back Room Old Fashioned is the safe call. Reservations only, and they fill a fortnight in advance.