Barless Bangkok bartenders ditch drinks for spicy noodles, dim sum

After City Hall ordered Bangkok bars shut indefinitely amid rising COVID-19 infections, two bar owners in Chinatown took up some heritage recipes from the past to survive the suddenly rocky present. 

Less than a week into 2021, after the government banned on-site alcohol sales for the second time in 10 months, Niks Anuman-Rajadhon and Gunn Leelhasuwan have had to quickly pivot.

Together, the two brains behind popular Soi Nana bars Teens of Thailand and Asia Today, Tax and Black King have launched DSI, or Dim Sum International, an ad hoc project using recipes for old-school shumai (pork dumplings) to help unemployed bartenders pay their bills.

Rather than carving ice or shaking up craft cocktails, their bartenders have found themselves preparing plump, porky dumplings by hand for delivery (THB10 per piece). 

They are also selling spicy noodle soup khanom jeen nam…