A Bar Called Su

Posted by Greg

November 8, 2007

Big Chilli Magazine, October 2006

When I had reached the ripe old age of five, my Grandfather decided to tell me the secret to living a happy life. He said, ‘Find something you like doing, and then figure out a way to get someone to pay you to do it.’ It seems simple, but judging from the fact that someone had to create the word ‘disgruntled’, it’s harder than it seems. So, although I’ve personally never found anyone willing to pay me great sums of cash to sleep and play video games, there are those who seem to have taken my Grandfather’s advice pretty literally.

One such person is Fabrice de Barsy, one of the rare people who could put ‘international man of mystery’ on their business card and actually live up to the title. Chef, nightclub owner and restaurateur, de Barsy has traveled from Switzerland, Malaysia and Singapore to Indonesia, Belgium and now Bangkok, leaving a trail of award-winning establishments in his wake. His crowded business card has phone numbers for six different countries on it. It’s hard to say whether de Barsy travels the world in order to entertain or entertains in order to travel the world; for him, the two are pretty much interchangeable. His latest club is called BarSu, a high-concept enterprise that he hopes will shake up the Bangkok club scene with some fresh ideas and even fresher food and music when it opens in December.

Born in Brussels, Belgium, he was lucky enough to know from early on what he wanted to do with his life. “When my parents used to take me on vacation, I would spend more time with the hotel staff than anyone else,” he says over lunch at a restaurant where writers in jeans and t-shirts feel a tad under-dressed. His love of food and entertaining came from his parents. “My father loved to cook and entertain, and we were always surrounded by music,” he explains, “so it was a natural progression. My parents decided that they wanted to send me to the best school for hotel and restaurant management, so I applied at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. There was a waiting list, so I took off for a year and backpacked around the world, and was really captivated by Asia.”

With he emerged from his studies in Lausanne, he moved back down to Singapore where he and a friend opened a small business together planning and catering parties and events. “I never wanted to join a big corporate chain,” he explains. “I always wanted to keep things small and more intimate, to have more control over how things are done.”

Once he had cut his teeth in Singapore and knew the lay of the land, he took the next big step and opened his first club, Saxophone. It was 1985, the year that We Are The World was at the top of the charts, the first mobile phone call in the UK was made, Windows 1.0 launched and the wreck of the Titanic was found at the bottom of the Atlantic. Saxophone soon found itself the place to see and be seen in, and de Barsy was riding high. “I opened it in an old shop house, and it was one of the first clubs in Singapore that wasn’t located in a hotel,” he remembers. “I named it after Adolphe Sax, the Belgian who invented the Saxophone.” Newsweek even voted it one of the best bars in the world.

I ask him if the old axiom is true, that a bar or restaurant is the hardest business to succeed in. “It’s very difficult, that’s for sure. I was pretty young and made all the mistakes you can make.” At the time, he wasn’t much older than most of his staff, and he laughs when he tells me, “I bought drinks for everyone I knew and saw the money in the till and thought ‘let’s party!’ which wasn’t the best thing to do.” Soon after, a Saxphone Bar opened in Bangkok, and even appropriated de Barsy’s logo. “It didn’t bother me; imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” he says. The Singapore Saxophone found its niche, and remained popular until it closed in 1999. “The government decided it wanted to develop the land it was on,” says de Barsy. “If that didn’t happen, I’d still own the bar today.”

The legendary Fabrice’s World Music Bar opened in Singapore soon after that, and was the first establishment to bring in live music from all over the world. “After going to everyone else’s bars when I was done work, I decided to make my own place with things I liked,” he says. “I brought in bands from all over the world – Africa, Europe, South America – and it did really well.” You might even have found yourself rubbing elbows with Sly Stallone, Mick Jagger or Jean Cluade Van Damme.

He was on a roll. Clubs followed in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, also burning up the club scene until the one-two punch of political upheaval and the economic crash put the kibosh on those two in the late 90’s. A few more clubs in Singapore (Ka and Rampage) followed, as did consulting work in the Seychelles, Cuba and Spain. For the last five years, Fabrice has been managing Kasbar in Dubai, which received an award for being the best night venue in all of the Middle East.

But Asia still has his heart, and the timing was right for a new club in big, bad Bangkok.

“Richard Chapman, GM of the Sheraton Grande, gave me a call and asked if I’d put together a world-class squad to open a new club,” he says. “It was a great opportunity, so I put together a dream team. Two-star Michelin chef Yves Mattagne designed the menu, world-famous mixologist Filippo Baldan designed the drinks and it’s topped off by F&B guru Roland Gaelens and, of course, myself. We’ve all known each other for years, so it’s like a bunch of friends working together on a dream concept.”

Although BarSu will be located in the Sheraton Grande on Sukhumvit road, de Barsy and his team have complete autonomy to run the club as an independent entity. “Our drinks and food will be in line with prices at other bars. We won’t set them at ‘hotel price plus-plus’ like other places do.” Fabrice also makes sure to drive home exactly why this club will be different from the numerous other places in town.

“Beyond our first-rate food and drinks, our décor and atmosphere will be very unique, as will our music. Many bars in Bangkok play only one type of music that usually falls under the large umbrella of electronica. I think some people are tired of what I call the ‘DJ Dictatorship’. I mean, who cares if it’s DJ Dick from NY or DJ Bob from London, as the difference in their music is often very slight,” he explains as I nod my head in agreement. To quote a paragraph from their press release, ‘While all other clubs follow a set formula, BarSu dares to be different. It does not pander to the DJ generation. The BarSu sound is for party people with a diverse and mature taste in music. Soul, funk, rock, sounds of the 70s and 80s and up-tempo rhythms of world music will move the BarSu crowd. Techno, house and hip-hop have no place here.’

BarSu will also take pride in providing their guests with an atmosphere that’s easy to mix and mingle in as well, with enough ‘quiet’ areas to allow you to actually talk to that girl that’s going to give you a phony number instead of screaming into her ear. Also – and this will be really refreshing change – the BarSu doormen will be very strict in keeping out, how to say it politely… whores. “We won’t have prostitutes in our club,” says de Barsy. “It makes people feel uncomfortable and it’s not the atmosphere we want to promote. People will come to BarSu to relax, drink and dance and meet real people. I enjoy provoking those kinds of meetings, and I’ve had many people tell me that they’ve met their husband or wife in one of my clubs.”

Looking at de Barsy’s business card, I have to wonder – is there room to add one more title – ‘International Match-Maker?’ On December 15, I’ll be there with my teeth freshly-brushed, hoping to find out.

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