BUCOLIC Khaoyai — Restaurant in Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Here is an interesting café in Khao Yai that spots a mini zoo of sorts, fun for both adults and kids. Actually, the café has been around for a while now. It is only somewhen at the end of 2022 and early 2023 that they started adding sheep, rabbits, tortoises, chickens and ducks into the mix. A large meadow featuring a pond extends out beyond the main airconditioned Nordic styled café. There are walkways on both sides, one leading to the mini zoo and the other to small pastures of flowers and a garden at a corner. There is outdoor seating spread around the compound, one under roof and the others in the open shaded by umbrellas. It is nice to sit outdoors on the right days when the air is cool. They do charge an entrance fee and that can be used to offset any food and drinks ordered. This is totally understandable to deter freeloaders just coming in for pictures in such a pretty place. The animals, are all very well taken care of and not exploited purely for profit. Do take care of the animals as if it’s your own pet, treat them gentle so that they all will continue to look healthy, clean and happy. If your children have a habit of pulling a chicken’s head out of its body, please do not bring them here. The shed where the mini zoo is offers animal feeds (you need to buy them). They have crowd control policy which prevents too many people from entering the protected sections to feed the various critters. This is good so that we humans will not accidentally step on small cute rabbits and cause them to explode. The café does get crowded on weekends, especially when there is a public holiday around the corner. I had been here more than once. Morning just after 9am will be a good time as the packs of people have not build up. Bucolic is a nice place to chill while having coffee, tea...

NOT the place FOR COFFEE. It was very weak and didn't resemble a barista cappu in any way, other than the water on the side. It didn't even look like a cappu, more like milk tea. I only drank half of the 95bt cup before leaving to another café with real coffee. I told them about it and brought the cup to the counter, no offer to try something different. The factory was busy pumping out more weakness I'm afraid. Then an aggressive and argumentative lady from the staff came all the way outside with my half finished cup in her hand, to tell me more or less that's how people like it. I told her it was very weak. To be fair she tried to make me a stronger one, but it was topped with cinnamon, which she said has no flavour. At that point I left. 😢

Good for tourists who want fun selfies, as the grounds are very nice. The small pet zoo is cute and quite clean. You can feed the animals as they sell small animal snacks. Well done on this aspect...

We stopped by for short brake and to get takeaway coffee. The kids want to use a toilet so we asked a staff. The reply was surprisingly unwelcome. The staff said we only bought 2 cup of coffee, so only 2 kids can use a toilet. They gave a reason that normally a customer who buys takeaway food/drink can't go inside because there is a picture spot inside that only the dine-in customers can enjoy the view (which is so nothing special - IMO). In the end, they let us in and insisted that only the kids can use the toilet and no picture allowed. How? I had to give them my word that we are not even a tiny bit interested in their petty-ish cafe vibe and scenary. Very disappointing. Putting aside the cafe's policy, I feel an unwelcoming presence and disrespect from the people...