Its newly-opened, so not fully decorated yet. It’s set-up is simple and casual.

Restaurant+bar

Food is British and fusion, and chef Scott is a local Eurasian boy, who’s got skills.

One of the favourites here is the Pork Ribs ($25.50 nett), which unlike most joints, here they oven-bake them.

Flashy

I think the significant factors about these ribs are the tenderness, and interesting flavours. Scott marinades d ribs in spices & ….. Coke! Then bakes it and adds an Oriental BBQ sauce.

The sauce is sweetish, with hints of spices while the meat… goddam its tender, skidding from the bone with a little effort. But dat dont mean u shd use cutlery.

Goes well with a Guinness.

Not dicks. Pigs in Blanket - large & juicy

Had to do the Pork Vindaloo ($25.50). It’s made with pork belly. Being a vindaloo, it gives a medium-low glow in the mouth on the spiciness scale, thanks to the loads of various spices and other condiments, including vinegar, making the gravy quite grainy and thick.

Piggy

Eaten with bread or rice, it’s gotta a sour-peppery tinge. Unusual and pretty good.

The Apple Lamb ($25.50) is another a curry-like dish, which is sweeter, and medium-spicy at d same time. Loaded with raisins, chunks of apple, and cashew nuts.

Sumtin different

The lamb is tender, the gravy flavoursome, and altho sweetish, does complement the meat. Could use more meat tho.

I had no space to shove dessert in. I should eat slower. But had one eye on an item called Braised Apple Compote, which contains apple braised in wine, with homemade basil & raisin ice-cream.

Everything at MacLaren’s is made from scratch, nothing out of bottles or cans, so food quality is pretty good.

Some of d items

Some of the best-sellers here are the Double Whammy (burger – double patty of your choice, bacon egg & cheese, $22), the Oxtail Soup and the pies (like Shepherd’s, Steak & Kidney, Beef Onion). The burgers are good value, beginning from $11.60, and 4 animals are available (pig/goat/chicken/cow).

Laid-back

Menu is pretty wide. There’re also sandwiches, Devil Curry and Fish ‘n Chips of course.

Tried a whisky for the first time – Glengrant. I gotta say, its very smooth and easy, with a decent bite just after d end, leaving a pleasant light burn in your mouth.

Yea. Only $232 nett a bottle here

Rick, the owner, is a Brit. So a projector screen is comin up for football n such.

Give d joint a shot.

D deals

Cocktail bars in KL tend not to do too well, tho they start pretty ambitious. I have several explanations for this.

The main one is the pricing system in this country. On top of the govt tax, bars and clubs mark-up their drinks 100% easy, and many even mark-up 200%! Cocktails? Probably 300%.

Why mark-up so highly? Because they do. And anyway you’d probably blame the government for the high prices.

(If they use cheap-shit alcohol, mark up is 1000+ %)

Cocktail culture? Not yet. Maybe not ever

Hence, people prefer to buy bottles of spirits – more bang for your buck. Higher ROI. If everybody bought individual drinks all their lives, all drinkers wd be broke by now. Cocktails? Double-broke.

So we’re so used to keeping things simple – a bottle of whisky, a pitcher of Coke or water. Done deal. Vodka? Orange or cranberry. That’s as complicated as the cocktails get for the general population.

Cocktail orders tend to be limited to sangria, margarita, mojito

Another major factor is the local F&B industry have really fucked things up. Many bars are stingy, and instead of using regular spirits in their cocktails, they use cheap-ass moonshine from Klang, meaning the cocktails taste like cock. Malaysian have gotten used to crap cocktails because of this, and so are not into it anymore. Besides shit taste, u could earn yorself a good hangover.

So-called popular bars do this too, so better check next time ur there. And many bars also use crap mixers, even if they use premium spirits. What’s the point?

U wanna pay 20-30 bucks for a piece of shit?

As for me, even tho i’m all over the  goddam place, i’ve  rarely come across really good-tasting cocktails, even by good bartenders using good shit. 80% are unbalanced and not smooth. Most are too sour, many are too sweet. One sip may be fine, but then finishing the whole glass is a different story. It can be a struggle!

What a waste of alcohol. And a waste of hard-earned money.

I think these bartenders need to drink their own cocktails a lot more, and not dip a skinny-ass straw into it and have a tiny sample. Of course most cocktails taste fine like that. Drink the whole glass. Or three.

Some bars even hire clueless foreigners! But i’ve already talked about this before.

I usually reserve cocktail-making for my house parties or travel or my blog parties.

Yea baby!

I’ve done a better job than some of these guys if i say so myself, with my Kelapa Rock (coconut water-based cocktail) and Brown Brown (Milo-ais based cocktail), among others. Easy, tasty.

At the moment, the better-known cocktail bars are View Bar, 21 and Tate. Be prepared to pay high prices.

One of the longest-living and coolest cocktail lounge was Chill. It was real smooth. Great cocktails, reasonable prices, great chilled Ibiza and Hed Kandi tunes in the afternoon/evening (and soul/funk house later at night, courtesy of DJ me!), funky decor, cool guys, and hot chicks. It had a good four-year run, but was ahead of its time.

Like dumb blondes, some only LOOK good

I look forward to cocktail bars for mainstream drinkers, with good mixers, normal-standard spirits, reasonable prices, balanced-tasting drinks, cool decor, and innovative bartenders. O yea, solid tunes too.

It’s from the Sauza family, the people who bring us Sauza tequila, which is the house-pouring and cocktail base at Frontera Bar & Grill in Jaya One.

The last time i was at this Tex-Mex joint, i got blasted (tx to Kenny Sia) on some crazy Mexican chili called habanero, and tequila of course.

Ramesh of Frontera introduces us to the first of two Tres Generaciones, the Reposado (which means it’s aged between two months and a year). This one did four months in American oak. Obviously it’s 100% agave.

Reposado

The bottle is cool, like some ol skool Aztec shit. Funny, i just talked about the Aztecs in a recent post.

It has a citrusy nose, while very easy on the palette. You can swirl it around your mouth without any facial reaction then swallow. It’s got a smooth, and a lil spicy finish. No salt or lime necessary of course.

Yup, a tequila that can be sipped. But as it’s the super premium range of Sauza, expect to pay 50 bucks a shot.

The other one is the Anejo (meaning aged minimum of one year, but less than three years).

Style

The Anejo has a caramel tinge, but is less sweet and spicier. This one did 12 months in toasted American oak.

Frontera makes all its margarita from Sauza gold (which is 100% agave tequila), so u can be sure its good shit. And, rather than regular sugar syrup, the cocktail is sweetened with imported agave nectar. It tastes like herbally honey. Awesome flavour. Almost like a Ricola! Haha

And the margaritas are made with fresh lime juice. No cordial crap. A pitcher is 110++ (7.5 shots of Sauza).

Special

Frontera has the $50 for 3 deal for Guinness etc all day. Happy hours is 5-9pm, where margaritas are 2+1.

There are a total of 11 different tequila here (including Patron), besides a wide range of Mexican food. The nachos platter kicks ass.

Brain damage: 7.5/10

For a change.

Why are parties always at night anyway. Same ol shit.

However did have an impromptu one at Tom, Dick & Harry’s, TTDI a few days prior.

Kicked off with Guinness, then a bottle each of Ardbeg scotch, Havana Club rum, Talisker scotch, Cruzon rum, Jagerbombs (yuck) and shots of Jose Cuervo.

Not a favourite

Cheeeers...

Happy

Special thanks to Byron, Anil and Khabs. And Naveen the crazy wildcard.

Anyway, it was a beautiful Sunday morning, and i arrive at El Meson a lil after 10. Wasnt easy wakin up. Friday at TDH was obviously heavy, and Saturday i’d done the whole six-in-da-morning shit at Sniffa Dawg’s birthday bbq.

Have beers to start, followed by a few plates of Breakfast For A King, El Meson’s breakfast special.

We occupy half d joint, just nice.

Breakfast of champs

By noon, i’m several pints down n pretty zapped. Most guests are here by now.

By afternoon, it’s hazy. I recall popping a bottle of bubbly (courtesy of Mark & El Meson), drink from it, then pass it around.

Yup, recall this

Next, i whip out a bottle of Captain Morgan Black Label. Superb stuff. I have it on the rocks. Beers are not in style by now.

Who yor daddy

Hmm, watdat in the background

Then, the highlight, the ‘Caribbean surprise’ that i promised guests. It’s a rare bottle of Lemonhart Demerra 151 rum, which i featured once. Finally found a time to cut it.

At 75.5%, it’s not sumtin to fuck with. There’s a warning label about how flammable it is.

Major artillery

I have it neat, from d bottle.

This shit got me by surprise. Considering it’s strength, this dark rum from Guyana is pretty smooth, taste-wise at least. Love it.

I pass the bottle around, and everyone has a sip or two. Somehow, both rums are cleaned.

Dark rums. Yummy.

Party in effect

The plan was to end at lunchtime.

Bad plan. The thing about a plan is dat sometimes it gets in d way.

JB Paul

Experience some degree of brown-out, especially from 2pm to 4pm. I think. I might even experienced D.I.A., but dats just speculation.

My plan was for a small one, 15 pax. We probably had a lil more over the course of the day.

Quite bent, i split the breakfast party at 5pm. Time just flies.

An awesome morning, afternoon and evening. Thanks to El Meson too.

A real unique gig to remember! Or not remember, either way.

Brain damage: 9/10

Chillin

This is a bar modeled after a speakeasy – which is an establishment that illegally sells alcohol.

Cigars? Cigarettes?

Speakeasies flourished during Prohibition in the US, between 1920 and 1933, when alcohol was illegal in the US.

Whose stupid idea was dat??

Obviously the policy failed. And created mobsters, like Al Capone.

Luv d special bulbs over d bar

Anyway, Tate is cozy, dim and intimate, so i reckon it fulfills some criteria.

Patrón-based margaritas goin out

It’s also impossible to find da joint, unless you’ve been tipped off.

Where's da party, dammit?!

After a few drinks, boyz got experimental with the knight

Brain damage: 7.5/10

Barry Chalmers, who was Theme mag’s UK bartender of the year (2005), had a hand in creating the cocktail menu.

Hit the spot for a taste session.

The Hill's lounge

Kicked off with the Fish Bowl ($69.60, all prices netted), which turned out to be my fave among four cocktails that were featured.

Scoop a fish

It’s inspired by the sangria, and features white wine, cider, amarettto, muddled mango, married with lemon grass and a tinge of spice.

It tastes fruity and a little sweet. It’s got that, how do i put it…. childhood-flashback effect for me, as i did get memories of lollipops. The wine cancels out some of the sweetness.

Hawaii 5-0 (had it in a shot glass)

We also had the Hawaii 5-0 ($46.40), which is served in a pineapple. This is a mix of 1.5 shot Smirnoff Green Apple, rasberry jam,  pineapple juice, and Falernum syrup, which is a slightly spice, Caribbean-style sweetener. Its kinda light, with a mainly sour, n light-bitter flavour.

Barry impressed the crowd with his toy

The Florida Keylime Pie ($34.80) is a drink in a martini glass with a toasted meringue top. The top tastes interesting, while the liquid, which is vodka-based, was too sour for me, as i like my drinks balanced. It’s made of Smirnoff Lime, muddled lime, and a dash of milk.

Cookin up the Florida

We ended with the Tea for Two ($58), served in a teapot. And with scones. Haha! This beverage contains Hendrick’s Gin, strawberry yogurt-infused tea, and strawberry jam. For those with a very sweet tooth.

Screw green tea

The cocktail menu has a good variety of drinks served in creative ways, like the Weedkiller, which comes in a poison bottle.

Drinks spread

There’s a cool and fancy party happenin this Sunday at The Hill, in conjunction with Halloween. It’s a Veuve Clicquot event called Yelloween. Entrance is with the purchase of one bottle of VC. Details, click:

Brain damage: 7/10

El Meson = "The Table"

Session began like it should, with a pitcher of sangria ($90.48. All prices nett). There are like 4 varieties here, and we went for the original. Fruity, refreshing and reasonably strong, how a sangria should be!

Salud

According to GM Mark Robert, each pitcher has half a bottle of Merlot and 2.5 shots of the house brandy, Remy Martin. And lots of fruit. Nice.

There’re also sangrias like White, Apple and Blueberry.

White. Good too

Sangria was enjoyed with a platter of meats. The Platter for Two ($62.64 nett) has pork ham samples of Iberico, Serrano, Parma, Speck, Salchicon and Chorizo. Sliced real thin, and a good intro to Spanish ham like Iberico.

Slice n dice

The pigs are (used to be) happy ones, especially the Iberian ones, who usually hop around freely & joyfully on green pastures and… eat green stuff. Thus, Jamon Iberico is highly-prized.

We hit some good ol siew yoke, aka Crispy Roast Pork Belly ($25.52). Tender inside, crispy, garlicy outside. So it went quick. Comes with apple sauce. Limited amounts daily, unless ordered in advance.

Porky

The pig onslaught continued with this little guy..

Still running?

Oops

A house special. The skin is perfectly done, not too crispy, and the meat and fat inside is like butter dammit. Sweet.

The Cochinillo requires 24 hours notice, and starts from $56.85  for a quarter.

There’s suckling lamb too! Damn, gotta nail that sometime.

Like that feast wasnt enough, we also had the Paella Mixta for two ($78.88), something unusual. Most people would go for the seafood version. This is a mix of seafood and Valenciana.

The chef is from Valencia too

The Valenciana is a provincial one, and is different. It has chicken, pork, spicy Chorizo sausages, green beans and chicken stock.

The Mixta is juicy, nice n sticky, with a unique mix of flavours, primarily tangy and a little sweet-sour. Very interesting. Cleaned-out.

Dessert was the clincher – something Lava. Well, it was real lava allright! Flowing, molten chocolate, around a scoop of home-made ice-cream. Killa!

(Fire in a shot of rum for more fun)

Dessit!

Other items that caught my eye include rabbit stew in red wine, slow-cooked Iberico rack of ribs, and a whole bunch of tapas.

Cozy n style

I hear their Sunday breakfast rocks. Opens at 8am, and near full-house.

There are events comin up at El Meson, including a Spanish Independence Day buffet party, which i definitely will attend. You can get updated about their stuff via their Facebook page here.

Moooooo!

There are various cocktails by pitchers, a wine cellar, some awesome Spanish sherrys and liqueurs (try the red wine liqueur) and a whole bunch of bubbly cocktails.

Open daily for breakfast, lunch n dinner; Saturday and Sunday it’s from 8am. If u ever need an extra-early drink, u know where it’s at.

Being high quality in food ingredients as well as being in Bangsar, prices are as expected above average to high.

However, re drink promos, u can enjoy three pints of Kilkenny or Guinness at $55 nett all day and night, everyday.

Enjoy!

Grafitti, Bangsar alley

Brain damage: 8/10

Sometimes they suck. And you basically wasted your time and effort attending the damn event. “Should have stayed home!” or “Should have gone elsewhere!” Am sure we’ve all experienced that feeling.

The problem occurs when an outlet or company invites the whole damn world, and then either they cant handle d crowd, or they never intended to cater to the crowd anyway. Both are very disrespectful and irresponsible.

Many bars are not equipped for big events

If you wanna invite say 300 people, ensure that there’re enough drinks for 300 people to have a few.

A friend was invited to Quattro’s anniversary some time back. Got dressed, smelling good, drove all the way to KL from PJ, paid high fees for parking, and got in there.It was a stampede. After all that, he managed to get…. one beer. That was it.

Obviously he wont go back to such outlets anytime. All that effort, for what. It was like 1,000 people there. Obviously not enough bars in there.

Such events should be broken into different days to lessen the load.

There’s also the issue of not having anywhere near enough bartenders to make the drinks. But then again, that could be the plan – staff not being able to cope means less drinks go out, which benefits the outlet/organizer in terms of cost.

Zouk’s bartenders once didnt allow me to order two drinks (one for my friend at d table) at their anniversary party. The bar was already so jammed with guests ordering drinks, u cd hardly move. Nevermind that, they wanted a bigger mess – each and every guest has to squeeze in there, and order their own drinks personally!

Stupid or wat. I’m not so desperate for the goddam ‘free’ drinks. I rather pay, and be treated not even like a customer, but at least like a human being.

Outta my way

I’ve seen people getting stressed, angry. Guests as well as staff. That’s dumb. You shouldn’t invite guests just to make them angry. They supposed to be happy.

The times where it’s near impossible to get the ‘free’ drink, i prefer ordering and paying for my own drinks. Am cool with that. The problem is, usually they dont sell drinks during the ‘freeflow’.

Doubly-fucked. Haha! Cant get the complimentary drink, cant buy your own.

So, go elsewhere.

I think some outlets probably do freeflow events as a scam to get the crowd in. Once they’re there, the outlet has a large crowd of people buying booze after d freeflow ends. The sooner d freeflow ends, d sooner ‘guests’ magically turn to…  ‘customers’! And any money spent on the free drinks (usually zero, coz they got alcohol companies to sponsor) is recovered multiple times the same night.

Some joints serve Klang-mari moonshine when it’s freeflow time. Like Luna Bar. (Some bars do that daily!)

Some places/events actually run out of glasses! What kind of planning is that? Thus, i’m choosy about the events i attend. Many low-quality ones out there, be warned.

When i did my blog anniversary last year (and launch year before), i ensured not only everyone would have quick and unrestricted access to drinks, i also made sure everyone could have loads to drink. Some booze was sponsored, and i also brought additional booze as back-up. I invited guests according to the amount i had for them to consume.

And everybody had a blast. Zero stress.

I wdnt have wasted their time, my time, and all the other parties’ time if i was gonna let guests fight for three drinks each, and then tell them to fuck-off.

Guests should be entitled to at least minimal comfort

Companies and outlets needs to rethink how they do events. Jamming too many people in, and treating them like cattle, is stupid.

It’s obviously counter-productive to your outlet / brand. It only shows how little you respect your customers & guests.

The session at View Bar was entitled Spirits of the Tropics, ie rum, hence my presence. Mixologist Junior created four types of freshly-made cocktails, which were available for civilians at $15 net a pop.

Menu

Sweet deal, considering the quality of the rum (Angostura, Trinidad & Tobago) and the high-quality ingredients. The first, Jungle Bird, is the only well-known Malaysian tiki cocktail. An extremely unique blend of sweet, finishing with bitter, as it has Campari. As well as dark rum, fresh lime juice, syrup and pineapple juice.

Tiki time

I also liked the Missionary. It’s one of ‘em fruity and tropical sweet-sour cocktails. Not too sweet, the way i like it. Better once the ice melts a bit.

The Screw Pine Mojito tastes like a very limey mojito. The loads of mint leaves had me chewing like a goat in Morocco.

The Screw Pine doesn't come with the dragonfly

However, the Malacca-Loda is too bland for me.

Malacca mari ah?

Also hit the tequila dinner at Las Carretas, Damansara Heights. Jose Cuervo sponsored the liquor, and i was taken aback when i saw this:

Yea! One of me fave tequilas

The walk-in drink is known as Old & New, a pair of shooters of iced tequila and Sangrita. I love the latter, like a salsa-sauce drink. Similar to the Red Hot Smoke i had recently.

Food was great, tho not what i expected, as it wasnt spicy.

Mixologist Timothy Jason also fried some sugared pineapples with a blowtorch for the second cocktail, Citrus whisper – 1800, Joseph Carton Triple Sec, orange slices and home made grape fruit soda. It tasted quite like a Screwdriver.

Toast 'em!

Before we left, there was a treat – an extremely rare Cuervo family reserve – the Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia. Only a couple of thousand bottles worldwide a year. Ben says “Each glass is probably over a hundred bucks.”

It has a nose similar to a single malt or cognac, with more caramel. Its super-smooth in the mouth, velvety, with a sweet, intense finish. Not a typical tequila.

Niice!

Especial

KLCW is likely to be an annual affair. It should get bigger next year, with more publicity and a heads-up for all yall who’d like to know more about (and get high on) an exciting variety of high-quality cocktails. You’ll be informed!

Brain damage: 8/10

I had a sneak preview last week, and the joint smelt like it was just readied a few hours ago. In fact, it was!

Thematically it’s the same as the original joint, and is more spacious and open, with quite a few tables on an outdoor deck.

Brand new

My camera is still fucking up. Most of the pictures i snapped aint even in there. Bastard.

Anyway, the drinks n food are same as the original outlet. Highlights include Pigs in Blanket, the pies, pork knuckle, etc.

Good news is there’s Erdinger Dunkel on tap.

Location map:

Click to enlarge

The ambiance is open and relaxed, and more casual, as instead of the low dining tables, more high tables are used; which i feel makes an outlet more sociable.

Over the next few days, TDH is havin events in conjunction with its opening. Wednesday – all international beers are two for $30. (All menu prices at TDH are nett. That’s what i like to see.)

It's on

Check it out.

Brain damage: 8/10