[KL] Knowhere Bangsar opens with some excellent boozing options

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Dining options may come and go in the Bangsar precinct, and with the spectrum of international cuisine offered, diners are spoilt for choice. It's the same in the boozing scope of things. However, a new kid on the block might just pique your curiosity. In fact, the azure of luminescent lights will cajole you into the debauchery of the drinking den. For which I implore you to take the plunge.

Knowhere, in light of publicity works, is a dream work. It's name allowing for a encyclopedia of social media puns (cue #knowherebetter #outofknowhere) to be implemented. On the other hand, there's 'going knowhere' that's posed as a troublemaker. Sure, the bar/restaurant may draw trenchant criticisms with its somewhat confusing name and global inspired menu featured everything from lime cured beef tongue to crudités with baba ganoush and even homemade chicken liver paté. However, in the true wild-child spirit, the menu incites wanderlust. Backed by good execution and a well travelled chef, the menu allows you to be a time traveller, and more than ever before, you have full control over your destination.

The ethos of the bar Knowhere stuck the moment I had my first bite of the Grilled Calamari with Belachan Salsa (RM 24.80). And for a brief moment, I was whisked away to the golden sunsets of the Grecian beaches.

Pick and mix from the bevy of bar snacks, all made to enhance your drinking experience. The Lime Cured Beef Tongue tartine (RM 26.80) has got enough swag to find permanency in the menu. Usually relegated to bottom-rung, the secondary cut is given a new lease on life with a piquant house pickled coating, and this is topped with more pickled vegetables and a sweet onion chili jam on crostinis. The perfect pre-dinner snack, if you ask me.

The Smoked plume and plum (RM 24.80) are heavy hitters. The house smoked duck delivering a whack of woody smoked flavours once the sweetness of the plum and peach salsa dies away.  It makes perfect sense, chased by a very dry Vesper.


On the drinks front, it's very possible to get lost in the surplus of cocktail options. The menu capitalising on South-east Asian ingredients and sub-cultures. There was a durian matcha cocktail that smacked a smile on my face. A compliment in itself, seeing that I'm slightly adverse to the thorny fruit. Other favourites were quick to surface as dessert doppelgangers. The PB & J (RM 30) is good - peanut butter and jelly fat washed whisky meets strawberry jam for a titillating mix that sashays its way straight into the dessert cocktail hall of fame (along with the swell clarified version I enjoyed in now defunct Pyxie Moss in Singapore). There's also the Smoked Popcorn Old Fashioned (RM 36) - here's the rub, whisky is stirred with popcorn syrup and finished with a dash of grapefruit bitters smoothe out its sugary heights. Did I mentioned its smoked with house wood chips?


Kopi Negroni (RM 32)- upon reading this description, you might think that the folks of Knowhere Bangsar might have gone a little too far with their rendition of the negroni. But DAYUM SON! that shit is good. Spiced rum infused with orange and spices, is paired with homemade tongkat ali liquer and kopi hitam for well balanced amalgamation with a hard bitter edge. Best sort of tipple to deal with Monday's dramas.

Of course, if you're all dulled out, ask them to stir a stiff canned heat for you. It's very easy to have a good time here, and even easier to leave them in possession of all your money, because with a smashable cocktail list that leans exciting, you won't be able to stop at just one.


Knowhere Bangsar
50 Jalan Maarof
Bangsar
t: +60 102202358
w: Facebook

Operating Hours:
Daily 4pm - 1am

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