Kuala Lumpur nightlife: A guide to the city’s best bars

By Emily Ding, CNN
8 minute read
Updated 6:24 PM EDT, Mon June 12, 2017
<strong>TREC: </strong>TREC (Taste, Relish, Experience, Celebrate) is the largest entertainment hub in Kuala Lumpur, with clubs, bars, restaurants and live music and comedy venues. Its most famous resident is Zouk -- which, according to several locals, is still one of the best places to go clubbing in the city.
TREC: TREC (Taste, Relish, Experience, Celebrate) is the largest entertainment hub in Kuala Lumpur, with clubs, bars, restaurants and live music and comedy venues. Its most famous resident is Zouk -- which, according to several locals, is still one of the best places to go clubbing in the city.
TREC
<strong>Club Kyō:</strong> For a more low-key clubbing experience, there's the basement of the Mandarin Oriental. Club Kyo KL sports a minimalist luxe-industrial vibe and plays house, techno, hip hop, R&B, afro funk or disco, depending on the day.
Club Kyō: For a more low-key clubbing experience, there's the basement of the Mandarin Oriental. Club Kyo KL sports a minimalist luxe-industrial vibe and plays house, techno, hip hop, R&B, afro funk or disco, depending on the day.
Jonathan Khee
<strong>The Bee: </strong>A recent makeover gave The Bee a bigger stage, a better sound system and a new DJ console. It also gave it a more rock 'n' roll edge, with neon lyrics emblazoned on walls and a line-up of vintage pinball machines.
The Bee: A recent makeover gave The Bee a bigger stage, a better sound system and a new DJ console. It also gave it a more rock 'n' roll edge, with neon lyrics emblazoned on walls and a line-up of vintage pinball machines.
All Is Amazing
<strong>IKKI: </strong>Also inside TREC, IKKI serves Japanese-influenced cocktails and food at a speakeasy-style bar with the look of an English gentleman's club.
IKKI: Also inside TREC, IKKI serves Japanese-influenced cocktails and food at a speakeasy-style bar with the look of an English gentleman's club.
Andy Kho
<strong>Como: </strong>TREC is home to Como, a Spanish restobar that hosts live music and DJ sets.
Como: TREC is home to Como, a Spanish restobar that hosts live music and DJ sets.
TREC
<strong>Taps: </strong>KL's craft beer scene is still a nascent one, but Taps leads the way with the largest range of craft beers in the country. Its selection spans America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Taps: KL's craft beer scene is still a nascent one, but Taps leads the way with the largest range of craft beers in the country. Its selection spans America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Taps Beer Bar
<strong>Omakase+Appreciate: </strong>O+A recently celebrated its fourth year in operation. The only bar from Malaysia on Drinks International's list of Asia's 50 Best Bars of 2016, it's in the basement of an office building behind a door stamped with a "No Admittance" sign that looks like it might lead to the utility room.
Omakase+Appreciate: O+A recently celebrated its fourth year in operation. The only bar from Malaysia on Drinks International's list of Asia's 50 Best Bars of 2016, it's in the basement of an office building behind a door stamped with a "No Admittance" sign that looks like it might lead to the utility room.
Omakase+Appreciate
<strong>PS150: </strong>This Chinatown cocktail bar sits in a colonial shophouse that was once a brothel. It's all very "In the Mood for Love" with a tinge of "Mad Men"-- swanky, illicit and whimsical all at once.
PS150: This Chinatown cocktail bar sits in a colonial shophouse that was once a brothel. It's all very "In the Mood for Love" with a tinge of "Mad Men"-- swanky, illicit and whimsical all at once.
calvingoh@mphotoo.com
<strong>Coley: </strong>Coley has a retro-modern vibe and sits somewhere between a bar and a cafe -- airy but intimate, buzzy but laid-back.
Coley: Coley has a retro-modern vibe and sits somewhere between a bar and a cafe -- airy but intimate, buzzy but laid-back.
Lobak Loon
<strong>JungleBird: </strong>There are no drinks with pink umbrellas, no hula girls, no one taking liberties with a ukelele at this tropical-styled bar. There are bamboo and rattan furnishings, wallpapers of green palms, and bartenders sporting Hawaiian shirts -- but all tasteful and understated, balanced by sleek lines and contemporary elements.
JungleBird: There are no drinks with pink umbrellas, no hula girls, no one taking liberties with a ukelele at this tropical-styled bar. There are bamboo and rattan furnishings, wallpapers of green palms, and bartenders sporting Hawaiian shirts -- but all tasteful and understated, balanced by sleek lines and contemporary elements.
Omakase + Appreciate
<strong>Bobo:</strong> Bobo KL's upstairs piano lounge is an exercise in minimalist elegance, with earthy hues of gray concrete and warm wood balanced by sleek marble tops and plush drapery.
Bobo: Bobo KL's upstairs piano lounge is an exercise in minimalist elegance, with earthy hues of gray concrete and warm wood balanced by sleek marble tops and plush drapery.
Bobo KL
<strong>Heli Lounge Bar: </strong>The working helipad on the rooftop of Menara KH moonlights as Heli Lounge Bar from 6 p.m. every evening -- unless it rains. You can enjoy a 360-degree view of the city as the sun sets, unfettered by even safety barriers.
Heli Lounge Bar: The working helipad on the rooftop of Menara KH moonlights as Heli Lounge Bar from 6 p.m. every evening -- unless it rains. You can enjoy a 360-degree view of the city as the sun sets, unfettered by even safety barriers.
Heli Lounge Bar
<strong>Coppersmith: </strong>Coppersmith inhabits the shadowed walkways between a wine bar and a restaurant in the imposing Troika towers. It's small but stately, with high ceilings and full-length windows with a view of the Petronas twin towers.
Coppersmith: Coppersmith inhabits the shadowed walkways between a wine bar and a restaurant in the imposing Troika towers. It's small but stately, with high ceilings and full-length windows with a view of the Petronas twin towers.
Coppersmith
Kuala Lumpur's best bars