The best bars in KL for a drink

There aren’t that many “culinary cocktail” bars around, much less one that sings with the savoury flavours of Southeast Asia — and doing all that sustainably to boot. Rakh (styled rākh), the sister bar and counterpart to Jwala, champions masterful and mindful mixology; here, kitchen scraps are repurposed for its cocktails (no straws!), topped with edible garnishes. Try its signature tipple, the Rasam, an ode to the South Indian soup: house-infused vodka is flavoured with herbs and seven-day fermented tomato puree, served with warm rasam foam.

Kampung Attap is not shy of new openings — and it didn’t take long for cocktail celebrity Angel Ng to note the potential of one of the four remaining pre-war shophouses on Jalan Tuba as a culinary collective featuring a bar, a fitted out kitchen and a dining space. 

The semi-zero waste bar, located at the top floor of Triptyk, is committed to sustainability, specialising in low- and no-proof cocktails along with carefully curated premium spirits. Cocktails make the most of each and every ingredient; one part of an ingredient may be found as a garnish in a cocktail, while other scraps are dehydrated or pickled. Burung Hutan is Triptyk’s no-proof take on the Malaysian-made tiki cocktail Jungle Bird; expect a fruity, refreshing mix of Lyre’s Italian Orange, pineapple juice and club soda, garnished with dried orange peel dusting.

When Hsiao Tung Wei (also behind Roost) opened Unwined in APW, it was an instant hit. The bottleshop-turn-bar has a selection of a few hundred natural wine bottles at any given time; you can scan the line-up in the chiller or on the menu, but we suggest a chat with the staff for recommendations, whether you’re in the mood for something funky, fruity, floral or beyond.

Unwined is on a roll too. The team has opened, in quick succession, Unwined Plus at Jalan Telawi 2 (taking over from the dessert shop Dew by Jaslyn Cakes, you’ll live on in our memories) and Unwined Cabana at Else Retreat in Petaling Street.

A bunker-like, metallic grey facade on Jalan Petaling belies the treasure trove that awaits inside at Penrose. The bar, spearheaded by Jon Lee (formerly Wildflowers just next door, and Singapore’s Tippling Club), placed on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023 in the first year of its debut — a testament to the passionate and precise team slinging out cocktails guided by the five elements: alcohol, taste, flavour, body and dilution. The menu is categorised into highballs, sours, spirit-forward and temperance. The Rum Musa is a complex rum cocktail made with musa (banana) from skin to stem, plus pimento berry and tamarind, closely inspired by a classic banana daiquiri.

Shirmy Chan’s Terumi, occupying a shoplot on one of Taman Paramount’s quieter streets, is perhaps the city’s only women-owned and -operated bar. With Terumi, also known as the tender bar, Shirmy is committed to breaking the glass ceiling in a man’s world, one cocktail at a time. The team’s third and latest menu has a theme of transformation. Order the three-parter East Pier, Terumi’s truly unique take on the gimlet; sip on the gin-and-lime cocktail, then scoop up some of the dill pearls alongside the yuzu sorbet. For something a little stronger, stirred and spirit-forward (and savoury?), Truffle Dog is a dry martini made with truffle oil-infused vodka and parmesan cheese.

Here & Now riffs on time and place, and just… the art of being and feeling. If we’re not explaining it right, maybe the menu will: it’s a “clock” sliced into three pies, the “hands” or numbers 1 to 4 titled Past Nostalgia, 5 to 8 Present Day, and 9 to 12 Future Unexplored. Look, if the menu’s not quite explaining it either, know that the dozen tiki-inspired cocktails are all variations of the daiquiri, mai tai, Jungle Bird, or Piña Colada, so expect fruity, tropical flavours that are serious tipples reimagined across the past, present and future. A must-try is number 5, the Asam; it’s the bar’s Present Day take on the daiquiri, sweet with a lingering tang from calamansi and a dry sour plum foam. 

Beyond that, there are also cocktails on tap, no-proof drinks, plus finger food (chicken wings, sweet potato fries, etc.) and heartier fare such as pasta and sliders for the hungry.

The city has always done speakeasy bars well; there’s something about our alleyways and kaki lima streets that seem built for people to dip into drinking dens behind unmarked doors. This bar though, through a facade resembling something of a barber shop-slash-garage, you’ll find in a mall in the affluent neighbourhood of Bangsar. Three x Co is named after its three co-founders, and designed for dimly-lit evenings amongst a grown-up crowd. This is not quite the place to ask for a beer. The cocktails are the star. 

All the classics are on offer, but the signature serves are much more exciting. Balik Pulau is a Hendrick’s-and-clarified milk concoction served over a clear ice with a garnish of basil leaf, candied white nutmeg from Penang, and local dried ginger.

The Caribbean may be a little bit out of reach, but never fear, Joloko’s right here. The restobar has a Caribbean cool vibe about it; think lots of greenery, peach painted walls and a sound system pumping out Afro-funk and classic disco. The garden even grows ingredients used by the kitchen, including a dozen varieties of chili peppers.

As one would expect, there is plenty of mezcal and tequila, plus a gorgeous natural wine list. A page on the drinks menu, ‘Mezcal Makes It Better’, takes a handful of classic cocktails and reinvents them with mezcal, like the mezcal negroni, mezcal paloma, mezcal sour, and so on. For something a little stronger, El Fuego Negro is punched up with mezcal, campari and sweet vermouth, plus a splash of Amaro and soda. This is a place to get to grips with mezcal’s nuances, or simply kick back with a margarita and some tostadas.

Reka:Bar's nondescript shoplot location — sharing a street address with a dental academy and a Secret’s Recipe — belies the complexity of its cocktails. A self-described “post-modern flavour lab”, the space-age styling is very, well, science-y: bathed in blue lights, the bar top is dominated by a ​​rotary evaporator (also known as a rotovap, for the scientists and serious bartenders amongst us), while the drip tray spells out ‘Reka’ in braille, a fun fact for your next date night. There are two menus: a seasonal themed spotlight menu and the signature ‘The Domino Effect’, anchored in “permutation”, “transformation”, and “evolution”. (We did say science-y.) Every cocktail on ‘The Domino Effect’ is linked to the one next to it, like a domino of ingredients, resulting in “a chain reaction of delicious wonder”. Order the Naughty Congee, an homage to the classic ginger and congee pairing, featuring spiced rum, floral amazake and Bentong ginger extract. Also highly recommended is the Mango Going Gone, Reka’s take on the classic Negroni with a twist (the twist: Perlis mangoes).

Ah, the bee’s knees of bars, Trigona was the first Malaysian bar to make it to the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2020 and ranked Malaysia’s Best Bar for three consecutive years by Asia’s 50 Best Bars. Named after the stingless bee that makes the highly-coveted honey used in the bar’s signature cocktails, Trigona is famed for carefully crafted creations spotlighting hyperlocal, sustainable produce and ingredients. For the new menu, titled ‘Foraged Malaysia’, the team foraged across the four regions of the country — Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsula and the Islands — to create 16 cocktails (with a few inspired by bak kut teh, laksa, and even teh tarik). A must-try is the Kunyit Royale, a concoction of Monkey Shoulder, Prosecco, Trigona honey, turmeric leaf, and four gingers.

There are over 500 bottles of whisky on offer at the fittingly named Whisky House. It’s a big range, but it’s likely you won’t have seen many of them before. The bar doesn’t focus on a particular country or region, nor is it guided by awards, brands or rarity; instead, its ethos is an enthusiasm to experience an extensive range of single malt whiskies and lesser-known bottles from all corners of the world without prejudice. To that end, there are exotic Japanese whiskies, limited-edition bottles of Scottish malts, and a wide variety of bottles from Canada, India, Taiwan and beyond. You’ll also find favourites such as Dalmore, Glenlivet and Singleton on the menu – with enticing bundle promotions available throughout the year.

If you find yourself in Taman Paramount — one of Time Out’s coolest neighbourhoods in the world in 2020 — you must end your day at Monster & Beer. A buzzing spot for craft beer lovers, there actually are at least 99 bottles of beer on the wall (sing it!) and a few on tap too. For recommendations, the bartenders are more than happy to match you with a brew from Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand or the UK. Pair with small plates of chicken and pork belly karaage, deep-fried small shrimp, gyoza, spicy wings, vinegar octopus, and more.

SSS has long been one of our favourite restobars, done the Chinatown way: super casual, super trendy, and a whole load of fun. The sleek, two-storey heritage shophouse is a fitting wine-and-dine setting; think of a delightful selection of natural wines from all over the world, including orange wines from France, sparkling reds from Italy and whites from Spain. (There are also beers and cocktails, if you prefer.) Sharing plates, courtesy of Eat Scintilla, seals the deal. Look out for pop-ups, tasting menus, and nights with deep house DJs on deck duty.

An oldie but a mightie goodie, Nomi Tomo (meaning ‘drinking buddies’ in Japanese) is the city’s first, and best, sake specialty bar. If there’s a deeper list of sake — over 80 bottles from junmai, ginjo and honjozo to sparkling, served cold, warm or hot — available in Kuala Lumpur, we don’t know of it; also on the menu are cocktails, highballs and Suntory. For bites, dig into chicken, beef and pork yakitori, katsu sando and sweet potato chips. Bring buddies, bump music, stay late, slam some sake bombs.

As one of KL’s most popular bars, Coley has one thing on its mind – good cocktails. It has placed in Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and serves a carefully curated menu of cocktails that’s updated every so often. There’s a core selection of classics cocktails updated with contemporary Coley twists. The Koktel menu from the bar’s early days is still a favourite, with local-inspired drinks and ingredients.

Another of KL’s entries in Asia’s 50 Best Bars in recent years is JungleBird, the self-proclaimed Rumah Rum that stocks over 100 labels of both light and dark rums from all over the world. The bar exudes a charming tropical resort vibe, and serves on rum flights and rum cocktails, of course. Go for the bar’s namesake, the JungleBird cocktail.

A visit to PS150 in Chinatown is a transportive experience, with settings reminiscent of old fashioned Hong Kong dens alongside open-air spaces and an intimate bar area. The cocktail menu is divided into the different eras of the drink’s history, each offering original concoctions and classics with a contemporary twist. The focus is on Southeast Asian flavours and ingredients, so expect familiar flavours.

The cosy Pahit specialises in all things gin – from various versions of classic G&Ts to innovative contemporary gin-based cocktails. We recommend going for one of the fruit-infused G&Ts which are very easy to drink, or if you’re after cocktails the house signature Gin Pahit #2 is the bar’s interpretation of the classic Pink Gin.

Perched on the 57th floor of Petronas 3 Tower, the views here are spectacular – so spectacular that drinking is almost an afterthought. If you drink, order one of the cocktails made by skilled mixologists. Otherwise, the views are really the gist here. An Italian restaurant and cigar lounge are also fitted in Marini's, making it a one-stop choice for swanky tourists and post-work urbanites.

A marriage of fiery charm and the chic ambience of a good bar, Pisco Bar is a cool space that doesn’t seem hard-pressed to compete with its flashier neighbours. Instead, the bar is confident in its offerings of a trim yet inclusive selection of cocktails, wine, beer and liquors alongside a menu of fusion food. Nights are often soundtracked by a rotation of local and international DJs.

61 Monarchy is an unassuming lounge in which you can relax with a dram or two of whisky from all over the world. The focus at this laidback bar is whisky, and there are over 400 bottles displayed on shelves around the bar. Go through the whisky collection, or start with a whisky flight or any of their strong whisky-based cocktails.

This neighbourhood bar is a popular spot for fans of craft beer – the rotation of up to eight options on tap at any one point as well as the fridge which contains even more varieties from craft breweries around the world are huge plus points. Prices are affordable, and the casual atmosphere in this minimalist space is great for an evening with friends.

Craft beer specialists Taps Beer Bar offer a range of quality craft brews from all over the world – from popular American and European brands to underrated beers from around the region. IPAs, APAs, pilsners, lagers, stout and more are available both on tap and in bottles, and the bar’s rotating tap concept ensures it’s never short on variety.

Hidden behind a row of lockers above a nondescript shophouse, The Locker + Loft opens up to a laidback space that offers affordable quirky cocktails alongside addictive finger food and spicy bar bites. The cocktails at this neighbourhood bar feature inventive use of local and Asian ingredients and quality spirits.

The capable bartenders are HYDE are great at tailoring drinks to your preference, and the frequent use of homemade ingredients and blends are what set the cocktails here apart. You can find inventive creations and classic drinks from different eras given a contemporary twist, and the handsome space brings to mind a classy early twenties speakeasy-style bar.