Cast your vote or nominate a hotel, restaurant, bar, airport, or airline, in our new ongoing survey of the best places in the Asia Pacific.
A Sense of Place |
| Mississippi Slims
| Castell's | Carlos
| Hakka | Le Coq
D'or | The Colliseum | Legend
Buffet | Hard Rock Cafe | Hakka
| The Boom Boom Room | Restoran
Futo | Bentley's at Hotel Nikko | Club
Twin | Kelab Toppan | Modesto's
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KL's hospitality industry heaved a sigh of relief when
the council law brought into effect 2 Rammadan's ago forcing
establishments to close at 12pm and 1 am was relaxed recently.
Now there are more places to get a meal and a drink at
two am in the morning other than your bar fridge or the
illegal places paying off the local coppers... The economic
crisis has had a major effect on nightlife, with crowds
well down on 2 years ago, especially in the chuppie/yuppie
venues. But as one restauranteur told us.. "..if we can
survive the midnight closing time, we will survive this..."
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Missisippi Slims
Never really worked out how many p's and s's are in Mississipi.
Much like learning how to spell "Philippines", which Indonesia
did a major botch job of in their TV subtitles and stadium banners
during the Asian games there several years back. .. And they put
it in lights too..
Still, enough of spellos and excuses.. Slims offers barbequed fare accompanied by a choice of around 8 exotic sauces. ..The food is great and the prices expensive, so it is a night out place rather your nighly diner, which seems out of kilter with the "Roadhouse" image it is themed around. Some guy went to town on the theme, with fenders, US Deep South menu names, maps and old car rego plates decorating the place. A kinda Hard Rock for truckers... The great news is the piped music is freat Rythym and Blues classics, and posters of my boyhood heros like Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker abound. Nightly a duo do their very best to make 2 dudes and a drum machine approximate the blues. As off-putting as it sounds, these two guys do a remarkable job.
A smallish but intimate art deco bar is a pleasant place to down a brew or two with beers from around the world. Happy hours 4pm to 9pm; Buckets of mixed small bottles at a discount seem to be popular. The bar is a favourite place of many who work close to this place as it is the only eatery between Jalan Sultan Ismail and the KLCC on Jalan Ampang, save for the Coq D'or who only open at eating times.
It is opposite the office of the APMF, and it does the heart a whole lotta good to listen to the blues coming from this place as you wait for a taxi at 1am in the morning after a long night writing crap like this.
Recommended.... for the atmosphere, quality food, and the music.
The prices .. well.. they could be lower.... Unlike the Hard
Rock 5 minutes walk down the road, you can hang out here and
everybody wont know you are back in town in a matter of minutes.
Castell's
While the inflow of Westerners over many years into Kuala Lumpur has guaranteed a good selection of steakhouses, none come close to the ambience and consistency of this little steakhouse tucked away in downtown Bukit Bintang. While a modest place compared to the large trendy US style steakhouses that the yuppies frequent in up-market Bangsar/Damansara and straight across the road in a place called "The Ship", the fact of life is that the best steaks in town are served here. And the service is friendly and personalised. This place has not changed in many years. The boss still takes up the end of the bar counting up his money (and no, nobody has seen him smile yet!)and the staff rarely change. Finding it is a problem, but perhaps that is part of its appeal. Find Beethoven's Karaoke Lounge or dodge the traffic from the more obvious "Ship" restaurant across the road, watch for the green sign saying "Castell's" outside and then take a left down a nondescript corridor. On the right is a big wooden door with a very small plaque saying Castell's, and you are there. US or NZ steaks are the order of the day, served on wooden platters with whatever selection of vegetables you have chosen. English mustard is always served, (how could it be a great steakhouse without it), and the mixed grill is great value with a bit of steak, chicken a grilled prawn and whatever else was looking lonely on the hotplate. Even if you don't order vegetables you always get a baked potato wrapped in Alfoil and a generous serving of corn. Apart from the steak the seafood and chicken is also excellent, and don't forget to order the Prawn Cocktail for starters for the best value of its type in this city. The bar is a friendly nook, and if you are by yourself, you can consume your tucker there and engage in general banter with the staff. As a small place, it fills up quickly, but as quickly the crowd dissipates. Waiting at the bar cradling an almost freezing beer is no great inconvenience. Very highly recommended.
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Castell's has not closed down as many people seem to think...
it's just moved upstairs and taken most of the staff,
the boss counting the money and the best steaks in town
with them. Now its even more of a secret.. Interestingly
enough, the ground floor area vacated has seen a Japanese
restaurant, an up market hawker store, and an Indian curry
house come and leave in double quick time.
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Hakka Restaurant
Home cooked Hakka food, perhaps the most nutritious, simple and satisfying Chinese cuisine of the lot. Again a casual place with outside or inside dining, though I've never been inside in a dozen visits. In the Asian way you share what is in the pot, and this varies from the house specialty of country chicken to the wonderfully simple Yau Tau Foo, which is basically vegetables stuffed with Tofu and boiled. Always crowded, one outlet is downtown and the clone is in Bangsar. If you don't want to be crowded out by well heeled European expats (mainly Brits) avoid Bangsar and try the former for where the real people hang out.
Carlos
Down Jalan Tun Razak, near the Jalan Ampang intersection is this outside bar/inside disco type place which seems to be the place to be at present. Wonderfully informal, in marked contrast to the trendy and bereft-of-atmosphere nightspots down Bangsar and central city way, you can either choose from an extensive menu and eat on the wooden tables and benches outside or duck inside for a dance or two. A couple of outside bars more reminiscent of the days when KL was REALLY friendly and down to earth. A big "garden" area means this is an excellent place for people watching and seeing who shouldn't be with who. It attracts a nice mix and stays open till... (well you'll have to find out for yourself just in case they are breaking a rule or two)... Definitely not for business meetings.. just relaxing... .. but watch out for the nyanmuk..!
Lé Coq D'or
An old colonial house, this place stands defiantly as a reminder of the old colonial Kuala Lumpur in the middle of towering new office blocks and construction lots on Jalan Ampang, very close to the KL Tourist Commission. This is no fine dining establishment but who can resist it's charms? An expansive verandah with metal and plastic chairs arranged casually around circular metal tables, with upright fans wafting welcome air towards you at regular intervals, this is the traditional place to start with a Guava juice or two. Large old framed pictures covered with layers of dust and the Happy Chinese New year/Xmas/Hari Raya/Deepavali signs stay up until they are replaced with the signs for the next religious festival. There is a quaint story about this place, but unless he takes you and regales you with a personal retelling you just might have to do with emailing Mr S'ng and him telling you via email. It is a lunch place as far as I am concerned. The set meal is still 9 Ringitt I think, which usually is the Soup of the Day, a choice of Fried Fish, Lamb Chops or "Chicken Chop" and whatever flavour ice cream they are serving that day (Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry). Coffee/Tea is included but don't expect to be able to choose. Whatever is available will arrive. The food arrives on old wooden trolleys pushed by even older Chinese men in starched white shirts and black trousers. Service is that unique blend of silver service and "Hawker throw down" that if you have experience in the region you will know what I am talking about. The a la carte menu is extensive and of far higher quality than the set meal. But for me nothing can beat the glorious uncertainty of the set meal. No aircon, but plenty of fans and open windows, making it a very cool place anyway. The men's facilities are a wonderful collection of antique urinals and washtubs. The ladies, which is up the wide staircase is even more charming from what I hear. A perfect example of what dining should be like in Asia. A strange reservation system for lunch sees them accepting reservations for the day in question but not before Noon. Come at 1 pm with a party of 6 and expect to be disappointed. Don't argue with the waiters. Go with the flow...
The Colliseum
Like Castell's you wont see this eating establishment featured in the restaurant guides, though it does feature regularly in Newsweek's "Best bars in Asia" features. A Kuala Lumpur institution, in a grotty old building in one of the less prestigious parts of town, the waiters still prance around in white starched collars and bow ties. "Those who know" say that the chef who made this place famous over many many years has now retired or carked-it but it seems in a very un-Chinese way, he has passed his skills onto his protegees and not kept the secrets to himself. What makes this place is the array of Sizzling Steak dinners, replete with large white starched bibs and thick slabs of bread with butter wrapped up in those gold foil packets. Four sizzling steaks coming towards you is a sight to behold. The gravy is poured over your steak on the sizzling plates resembling a cow (hopefully not a mad one), and the steam billows to the ceiling. Stuff grace and dinner conversation... Tuck in.. 'Nuff said.
Legend Hotel
At the time of writing the best available buffet spread in KL in a competitive market according to "those that know". Both the European and local selections are of high quality. Even the sushi approaches the quality of solus Japanese restaurants. The Shangri-La will always host one of the best buffets in KL, but with more user-friendly pricing the Legend gives the olde Shang a real run for its money. Across the road from the Shang, the Concorde hotel, who mounted a brave challenge to the buffet market several years ago have now lost the Buffet/Buka Puasa aficiandos with their recent pedestrian offerings. The Legend is tops now... but for how long cannot be guaranteed.
Hard Rock Café
The KL Hard Rock burst on to the scene 4 or 5 years back, grabbed
a lucrative market segment and has never looked back. With no doubt,
the most lively and friendly HRC in the world. Happy hours are 6pm
to 9pm every night when the usually pricey Malaysian alcohol is passed
out in twos rather than singles for the single price. Predictably,
9pm sees a sea of amber in glass containers swamping the bar. What
makes the HRC great is a big bar, lots of strategically located possies,
a dependable music policy, friendly though overworked bar staff (especially
at 9pm, expect to wait 10 minutes for someone to notice you and 15
mins for the bill, better still, save time and order your next round
when you get the first bill). This is a stopover for city workers
who don't wish to face the 5pm to 9pm KL traffic snarl to get home.
Excellent food, (I can recommend the Seafood Chowder and Fajitas for
dinner and the Nachos for a snack for 4 people, but don't forget to
order all the trimmings including guacomale, sour cream and chilli),
means that you can eat here as well and adjourn to the bar after dinner
for the live band at around 11:15 every night. Regulars are a mix
of expats, local businesspersons of all ethnic persuasions, and working
girls on a night off. Less regular patrons including a yuppie crowd,
plus tourists taking over at about 11pm. If you only go to one Hard
Rock Cafe once, this is the time and place. Blanchard likes
it too...
...As does Webhead, 30th October 1998:
Stylish, happy, a great stop-off... I am a self-confessed Hard Rock KL regular... well, it's only 400 yards from the office! After the first few times it's easy to spot the regulars, and they spot you just as easily - I've made friends with a good number of them. The staff and servers are very easy to get on with, as long as you know the KL-handshake and are easy-going.
As Rod says, great for eating snacks at the bar (when quiet) or book in advance and sit down for a full-blown meal with great service and even better food. Happy Hour lasts 5pm-9pm now - two-for-one on draughts and regular spirits - great value for us Brits who go out at 7 and are used to having the doors to pubs close at 11pm. During October and November, a fantastic replacement to the already-jivin' band, named Rockafeller, pumps out sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties hits until the wee-hours, every night except Sunday. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays the place is quiet until around 8.30pm, the other days, you'll have to bustle to the bar, I'm afraid.
I've been told that HRC KL is the smallest Hard Rock in the world, but that says nothing about the warmth and friendliness of the place, and it's not just the Malaysians, either. Seems even the stuffiest Brit relaxes in KL...
All in all, my favourite place to hang out in Kuala Lumpur... but that's from a 23-year old Webhead. Don't take my word for it - check it out yourself. You won't be sorry... unless you're on a tight budget.
| The HRC is still going strong and even thriving as regulars who left for Bangsar establishments which have since closed down return.. Prices are up though... |
The Boom Boom Room
| The new Boom Boom Room opened last year... Same location, different entrance... and the show has gone. Now joined the trendy soulless and face-less up-market establishments that dot KL. Not sure who is advising these guys but Kent cigarettes must be sorely disappointed with the returns. Last time we went at 11pm on a weekend there were 10 very forlorn looking customers... |
The one thing that a casual traveller notices on travelling in the region is the proclivity of certain men to dress up like women. While this results in great stories to tell your mates when you get home, pre-hindsight the experience has been a sobering one for many an innocent lad in Asia. The Boom Boom Room in Kuala Lumpur hosts a great night every night for sitting at the bar guessing the original sex of the assembled multitude, mainly because this place attracts a cross-section (excuse the pun) of both the aforesaid and the rest of us. This is because of the nightly floorshow which by professional production and a very talented group of entertainers transforms the tacky into the "just great fun". The Boom Boom Room now faces its greatest challenge with the departure of the fat lady who is KL's finest comic, but the crowds still pack the place waiting to see if the momentum can be continued. Later in the week, always a great night out. Earlier, the assorted mixture of desperados makes it a bit depressing.
Futo Restoran
The Chinese in KL will always tell you that the best Chinese tucker in KL can be had in downtown Chinatown. They go to places where the food may indeed be good, but which are tucked down grimy lanes and where nobody speaks English. They swear NEVER to go the Restauran Futo, because the food is double the price, even though, they admit, it is of similar quality. This is the pick of the "outside, sit around badly stained round white plastic tables on plastic white chairs" places. From here, literally sitting in the middle of the road, you can see Chinese commerce at its best, most energetic, loudest and earthy. Fake Rolexes, fake videos, real live chickens, budget clothes, fruit sold by traders with badly calibrated weighing scales and the omnipresent BBQ pork is traded here along with just about anything else you want. The road is a continuous stream of humanity of all ethnic persuasions, ages, and classes, honking cars, all making their way past your table. This is frenetic, bawdy, and stimulation-overload dining. You order beer by the bottle and the crabs by weight and sex... and being ripped off is part of the experience. The waiter will come by your table at the end of the night, make a casual totting up of your bill in his mind and quote you a price. By then, the dust and heat and general "joie de vivre" would have got the better of you via the brown empty bottles that now adorn your table along with titbits of food that have escaped your chopsticks pre-ingestion... and you really don't care. Beggars pass by your rich man's table with their dirty plastic cups held out, garbage trucks park 5 metres away... and the food is glorious. Try the deep fried or steamed fish as well as the boring usual prawn fare. Your dining companions will be German back packers from the local hostels, middle aged Australian holidaying couples, and a surprising amount of Chinese who say they "never come here". If this is not your thing by all means give it a miss... However, this is "best of the genre.."... but definitely non-halal... and dont expect to spend much less than you would for a 5 star hotel smorgasboard... though the drinks bill will be much cheaper...
Bentley's at Hotel Nikko
Refined, excellent service and relaxing ambience. Which should be expected for a pub named after the most popular name for a gentleman's gentleman. I usually avoid these ubiquitous clones of English pubs in Asia, mainly because nothing can beat the real thing. But this is more like a club than a pub, with warm wood paneling and very comfortable seating and tables. They say the Japanese restaurant is now close to best of the genre in KL, but I haven't been there myself. If you're near the Ampang Park area I can recommend Bentley's. Genteel. Attentive waitresses.
Kelab Twin
A traditional Chinese Karaoke but better than most. As always at these places, about 3 times as many staff as patrons (5 times if you include GRO's), which accounts for the thin look of your wallet when you depart, but this is certainly not one of the most expensive in KL, but still of high enough standard to take your best clients and associates. If you like this sort of thing, and I do recommend you at least try one out and give your vocal chords an exercise, this one is a great place to start. You never know when you will be invited to a Karaoke by a client and best to practice a few songs in relative anonymity before embarrassing yourself with an out-of-tune rendition of "For all the gals I've loved before" in front of an important account. "Those who know" say there is an excellent selection of songs here (Malay, Chinese, Japanese, English and Indian) and the sound system would even make "the nutty squirrels" sound good. The staff here prefer more recent songs, and will reward you with applause (in fact a Karaoke bar is the one place in the world where the gals are PAID to give you the clap). Blanchard is a regular and the staff run for the ear muffs when he arrives.
Kelab Toppan
Well known and notorious Karoake Club, especially for foreigners.
We will let Blanchard tell the
story.
Modesto's
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Reopened in the next block with the same excellent italian
food... Webhead updates the review below but the new venue
has given Modestos a new lease of life. Despite the recession
the eating area downstairs always seems full, as is the
outside area with those giant metal fans. Ladies night
Tuesdays and Thursdays for the bar upstairs. Used to be
very trendy when it first opened but now showing some
jadedness. KL yuppies are some of the most fickle in the
world, and the lady boys and ladies of the night have
invaded ladies night. Lively, but the discerning APMF
regular may just prefer to sample the excellent pizza,
and pasta downstairs and avoid the party upstairs!
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A bit more upmarket than the Hard Rock Cafe and just around the
corner is Modesto's. The clientele is less culturally diverse than
the HRC with a larger proportion of young Chinese yuppies (Barbara
tells me this demographic target market are more correctly referred
to as "Chuppies") and better financially rewarded expatriates.
This is a great meeting place, but the attraction is really the
food. Best Italian food in Kuala Lumpur; as expected as one of the
owners is ex Fratini's in Singapore, but that's another
story. Both pizza and pasta are recommended, though very pricey
by KL standards. The outside bar/restaurant area is very pleasant,
as is the upstairs dining only area. There is a games room for those
satisfied with blasting coloured balls into various pockets or throwing
pricks with tail feathers into cork boards.
Webhead notes on
30th October 1998: Haven't seen a games-room at Modesto's, but then
I usually have my eyes glued to the live band, or the dance-floor
packed with Chuppies and foreign girls, or (more often than not,
believe me!) directed at a newly-made friend for conversational
purposes - sometimes all three (!). Modesto's is where I end up
if there's no room in the Rock or I need a
change.
Downstairs is now dining-only, while upstairs has been converted into a comfortably-small dance floor with a few tables and a nice, long, curved bar.
Ladies night (Tuesday and Thursday) offers free Long Island cocktails to the lasses, while the lads have to cough-up for their Tiger or Anchor, or literally hack-up for bottled beer or lager... not the cheapest place in town, by a long chalk. Thursday through Saturday, Modesto's offers an atmosphere which must be savoured, along with the excellent food, as Rod so rightly says above.
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