April 2011

Nothing has gone from all the rage to dismally passé like the presence of a new bar on Changkat. A mix of bar snacks that looks higgledy-piggledy and a drink menu that is limp at best offers its punters a gloomy bemusement. There was a funereal air to the nearlydeserted place. The décor tries and I am not hating it because it’s different to what can be expected in the area but authenticity can be an overrated ambition. ‘It’s sort of trying to recreate the snug of an actual Victorian pub,’ my friend sniffily observed as we took in the green wallpaper and Victorian portrait replicas on the wall. Needless to say, it doesn’t fly.

We recognise the pressures that lie upon the shoulders of bar/pub/club owners looking to make a splash in KL’s fraught nightlife market. They take an idea successful in the UK – a Victorian pub that’s gone through a slick makeover but remains a traditional boozer – but don’t fully commit to it. We can’t fault them for this, however, because since its first mention in our January issue, it has changed hands at least once and it looks like that may happen again. A change of management has resulted in an absence of Starker and Jaz Fresh from the menu and the décor has scaled down from its previous impressive foray into Victorian armchairs and low tables, only to replace it with bog-standard dining tables and chairs.

Have the wherewithal to go crazy with the Victorian concept and lend some imagination to your beer menu, we plead – it’s a winning idea that requires competent execution but will draw drinkers in if done right. Syazlynia Rahim