Located along the busy Jalan Kemuja in Bangsar, Bar None is barely six months old, but in my books it’s already one of KL’s best new bars, thanks to a combination of its cozy, unassuming atmosphere, and also a cocktail menu of 24 drinks that combine a sense of an unassumingly fun and playful vibe with an undeniable respect for classic cocktails.
In Raz Ng and Arsenio ‘Ash’ Mariano Jr., you have arguably two of the best classically-driven bartenders in town. Ng used to bartend at the now closed Sugarhall bar in Singapore, while Ash is a bartending veteran who is one of the pioneers of the Malaysian cocktail scene.
According to Ash, the idea for Bar None was to go back to the idea of bars being a place for people to hang out and be part of a community.
“We also wanted our drinks to be driven by the classics, and not too ‘far out’ or use too complicated techniques,” he said.
The bar’s cocktail menu is a great reflection of this – keeping the infusions to a minimum, focusing on fresh ingredients as well as off-the-shelf spirits and liqueurs.
The menu is divided into ‘Day’ drinks (supposedly low ABV, easy drinking cocktails you can enjoy when the sun is still up, as the bar opens its doors at 3pm daily, except Sundays). The ‘Night’ drinks’ are much stronger tipples with more complex flavours, perfect for unwinding after the sun has gone down.
Together, they made up a remarkably complete cocktail menu that had hardly any misses. (By the way, there’s nothing stopping you from ordering Night drinks in the Day, or vice versa.)
In case you don’t know where to start, then go for the Jungle Bird, which in my opinion really is one of THE best takes on this Malaysian-created classic cocktail in town.
The use of two rums – one dark, one light – as well as caramelised pineapple really makes a difference in this drink, with a fresher, more distinct pineapple flavour balanced by the richness of the two rums.
I especially love the classic focused simplicity of many of the drinks, eschewing commonly used modern techniques like infusions and equipment like distillers and rotovapes, and instead, focusing on ingredients and spirits they can pour straight from the bottle.
A good example of this is the wonderfully balanced Pink Martinez, which replaces sweet vermouth with the lighter Lillet Rose fortified wine for that signature pink hue. This also results in a lighter, but not less spirited version of the classic Martinez.
The Carinosa is another classic worth trying here, using two Mezcals and Ratafia Rossi cherry wine for a confoundingly easy-drinking yet powerful take on the Oaxacan Negroni.
Other similar minimalist twists on classics worth trying are the Naked Pornstar (a riff on the classic Pornstar Martini), the Carajillo (a tequila-based espresso martini), and the Filthy Intentions, a dirty martini twist that ups the ‘dirty’ element with high quality Castelvetranos olives and also garnished with a grilled octopus on a skewer.
It’s not all classic twists here though. Some of the other drinks shine through Ash and Ng’s use of unique local ingredients, like the Belimbing Buluh (bilimbi in English) in the Stargazer, which lends a truly unique fruity sourness to the drink.
Elsewhere, Daun Selom is used in the Forest Brine, kedondong in the None-tini, and the toddy/nira in the Ria Nira.
Others stand out by virtue of their presentation. The deceptively-light but strong Nirvana-inspired NeverMind comes with an ice cube with a little baby figure inside it (a little disconcerting, yes, but oh well, whatever, never mind).
The nutilicious Nut Job is a clarified banana and peanut butter rum drink with a beautiful Guinness foam on top.
Even the more ambitious drinks with heavier flavours, like the pizza-flavored Antipasto, the Peranakan cuisine-inspired Bozzy Baba, and the slushie Vice Affair work because the bartenders know exactly how to balance the drinks right.
Some bars you go for ‘vibes’ and atmosphere. Some you go for music and company. Bar None is where you go for drinks you know will never go wrong.
Bar None is one of the participating bars at the upcoming Kuala Lumpur Cocktail Week, and will be hosting Bengaluru's ZLB23 bar for a guest shift on April 29.
