Bangkok's Wasteland Bar Waited Five Years for One Ingredient: Here, "Waste" Is Just Value Nobody's Noticed Yet

Some ingredients, the Wasteland team spent five years waiting for. Not because they're too rare or expensive to buy, but because the season was off, or they couldn't reach the source—until one day the timing finally aligned and the supplier agreed to send samples. This isn't marketing-speak about "persistence." It's a bar that's taken the word "waste" and turned it into an actual supply chain that demands patience.

Tucked down a soi off Sukhumvit 71—Soi Pridi Banomyong 1 (Edison Alley)—Wasteland leans into a raw, industrial aesthetic. Co-founders Dharath "Tot" Hoonchamlong and Kitibordee "Gov" Chortubtim, alongside sharp-handed head bartender Wachiraya "Bell" Banpot, lead a team that does more than mix drinks—they run R&D. Tot holds a master's in food studies from NYU and has worked as a hotel sustainability director and restaurant environmental manager, in addition to writing food columns and organizing events. Back in late 2019, while still working as an environmental manager at a restaurant, the idea struck him: instead of doing just one pop-up, why not commit to something real. He reached out to Gov, whom he'd known for a while, and the two started running pop-ups at different bars—until a space opened up at Bo.lan restaurant, turning the concept into an actual venue that opened in 2020. The pandemic promptly shut the physical space down. During the four years without a storefront, the team pivoted to consulting work, workshops, and speaking engagements to spread their sustainability philosophy, before finally reopening in 2025.

The name "Wasteland" actually draws inspiration from dystopian films—where after landing in a wasteland, people find every possible way to squeeze the utmost out of whatever's left. Gov says that "anything is possible" mindset is exactly what they were after. For Tot, the name carries two layers: first, if we really were living in a wasteland, how would we make the most of what little we have; second, how do we stop the world from actually becoming that.

Three Types of Ingredients, One System

Upstairs, the space is filled with fermentation equipment and research tools—less a bar, more half a food lab. They divide ingredients into three categories: fresh produce sourced directly from farms, surplus ingredients from the food and beverage industry, and overlooked raw materials that the market rarely uses. The surplus and overlooked ingredients mostly come from other F&B operators reaching out, or from Wasteland approaching them first; some finished products even get handed back to the original suppliers for their own use. Gov says it's not always clear whether the ingredient or the idea comes first—sometimes they get a result and immediately know the next step, sometimes what they make isn't bad, they just can't figure out how to use it yet, so they shelve it until the day they pick it back up to play with again. If you want a specific rare ingredient, you need to notify the farmer sixty to ninety days in advance—a rhythm you have to respect when working directly with the source.

BROWSE: Laying the R&D Process Bare for Guests

This year's R&D project, "wasteland: BROWSE, Experimental / R&D Sessions," runs from July 8 to September 30, with the menu changing weekly over three months, adding up to twelve series in total. Tot explains this continues from last year's daily Open Lab sessions held before the bar opened, meant to keep the team constantly engaging with ingredients and people—rather than following the typical bar model of one big menu overhaul per year. Gov was the one who came up with the "weekly refresh" format. Some experiments never make it to the official menu due to seasonality, transport limits, or limited supply—but that's exactly the point of BROWSE: letting guests watch how an idea grows, and how it gets cut.

The people who come for drinks fall into two extremes. Some only care about taste or how photogenic the drink looks; others grill the team about a glass's carbon footprint—including no shortage of conservationists and environmental workers. Gov says the team has seen every type of customer imaginable, which is part of why they've positioned the bar around "people first" rather than treating it as just part of the industry ecosystem—working with government agencies and NGOs, and welcoming fellow industry folks to swap R&D notes, with nothing held back.

Wasteland is located at 3/19 Pridi Banomyong 1 (Sukhumvit 71 Rd, Vadhana), open nightly from 6 PM to midnight. Follow @wastelandbkk on Instagram for the latest menu updates.