Great ideas at chic I+D

THE AROMA of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air as you walk past the multi-brand lifestyle popup store Another Alternative at Siam Center. Tucked away inside is another popup, I+D Style Cafe, that’s more than a relaxing coffeeshop. It’s also a design shop selling creative and innovative products by Thai designers and entrepreneurs. 

The I+D stands for “innovation plus design”, explains ML Kathathong Thongyai, director of the Thailand Institute of Design and Innovation Department.

“It’s a pilot project by the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of International Trade Promotion – using the coffeeshop concept to showcase innovative product designs. Thanks to the cosy vibe, people get more easily involved with the products. There are shelves of eco-design products that they can buy to take home, and they can even buy the chairs and tables where they’re sitting.”

Siam Piwat, operator of Siam Center, has supplied the space free of charge. 

The cafe is decorated simply in industrial chic, with dark steel and wood in a free-form style, making it easy to mix a variety of goods and services in one place. The shop seats about 30 people, both inside and out front. It will be open through next March.

The beans come from Brave Roasters, a small coffee-roasting firm on Soi Ekamai that supplies top coffeeshops like One Ounce for Onion and Drip Coffee. Its three young entrepreneurs share a passion for finding the best beans, buying directly from small local farms and doing the roasting themselves to achieve a distinctive flavour.

“Roasting is a form of art,” says Ekameth Wiprasutti, one of the Brave Roasters. “You have to know the characteristics and profile of each green bean – the fragrance, acidity, body, flavour and aftertaste. We have beans from Chom Thong and Doi Saket in Chiang Mai and organic Omkoi Arabica beans from Chiang Mai University’s Coffee Project, which have high acidity and a refreshing aftertaste.”

Hot coffee is best made with local beans or imported ones like Kayanza Burundi, which gives a caramel body, apple acidity and vanilla aftertaste to the Americano, Cappuccino (both Bt100) and Latte (Bt110). 

For an iced coffee, try the signature house blend, Sukhumvit (Bt120), which is infused with orange and cinnamon and stylishly served in a whiskey bottle. There’s also the iced latte Surry Hills (Bt140), topped with chocolate sauce and two scoops of vanilla ice cream. 

Nutty and creamy Peach & Nut (Bt150) has the vanilla ice cream blended with peanut butter, preserved peach, almond milk, soy milk and squeezed lemon, topped with peach slices and chocolate powder. 

The food menu offers Tofu & Salmon Truffle Salad (Bt180), a mixed green salad with smoked salmon, grilled tofu, house-made soy dressing and truffle oil. Butifarra & Mash (Bt240) is Spanish-style sausages served with house-made mashed potatoes, mixed salad with balsamic dressing and a fried egg. 

Other tempting dishes are Toasty Glazed (Bt260), a croissant stuffed with smoked ham, bacon and an onsen egg on a bed of mixed salad with spicy maple sauce, and the Grizzly (Bt280), a toasted baguette with smoked sausage, mixed salad with truffle honey sauce and a fried egg. 

The creative products that won the DEmark (Design Excellence) Awards will rotate on show and sale at the cafe. Currently there are items from the Eco Design Thai Thai collectives, underscoring the belief that green products can be as stylish as they are sustainable. 

There are Labrador’s leather bags that use less bleaching, Good/Rak’s bags and iPad cases made from kraft paper and felt, Grey Ray’s pencil caps and the Friends International Organisation (Thailand)’s funky necklaces and bracelets fashioned from old magazines and plastic snack packaging. 

Innovative food products initiated by the Thailand Research Fund and Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research are also available. You can buy sachets of instant durian powder to make hot drinks, banana syrup made from bananas sun-dried under a parabolic dome, and sugar-free kanom ping (mellow cookies) from Ponkumwan – vanilla, pandan or coffee flavour.

 

GRAZE AND GAWK

>>I+D Style Cafe is in the Another Alternative Store on the first floor of Siam Center.

>>It’s open daily from 10 to 8. 

>>Check it out at Facebook/InnovationPlusDesign.