Lavantha KL – A Bank Vault Bar Nailing the Cocktails
Lower Ground Floor, Moxy Kuala Lumpur Chinatown • 1 Jalan Hang Lekiu • RM 60–80 a drink • Closed Monday & Sunday
Quick take: Hidden behind a literal bank vault door underneath Moxy Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, Lavantha delivers polished, thoughtful cocktails in a dramatic, gold‑and‑marble lounge – but on our KL Cocktail Week guest‑shift visit, the fixed menu skipped non‑alcoholic options entirely, which meant one drink, great chat, and an early exit for the zero‑proof drinker at the table.
⏰ Opening hours: Tuesday to Thursday 7pm – 1am, Friday & Saturday 7pm – 2am, closed Sunday and Monday.
📍 Address: Lower Ground Floor, Chinatown, 1, Jalan Hang Lekiu, City Centre, 50100 Kuala Lumpur.
📞 Phone: +60 11‑1706 3680.
🛏️ Where: Inside Moxy Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, a few minutes’ walk from the rest of Chinatown’s bars.
📲 Reservations: Seats are limited; book via their booking portal if you don’t like rolling the dice.
Down in the Lift, Past the Neon and Through the Vault Door
Lavantha is Jon Lee’s second act after Penrose, and he’s chosen a setting with real drama: the bar sits in the former vault of the old Oriental Bank, directly beneath Moxy. You ride the lift down from the hotel to the lower‑ground floor, step out into a dim corridor and are greeted by a spiral staircase with a glowing LAVANTHA neon sign strapped across it like a beacon.
Important public service announcement: do not go up the spiral staircase. The bar is through the heavy bank vault door just ahead – the stairs are a red herring for the uninitiated. Push open that vault door instead and you’ll step into the triangular vestibule that leads to the main room.
Inside the bar, you’re wrapped in champagne lighting, black marble, mirrors and gold – very polished, but still relaxed rather than intimidating. Telephone reception for data, on the other hand, decides it’s on holiday; you’re far enough underground that the outside world doesn’t always make it through. Thankfully, as a hotel guest you can still hook into Moxy’s Wi‑Fi, so you’re not completely off‑grid if you need to check messages or post the odd “look where we are” story.
The room itself is a long rectangle, with the bar running almost the entire length of one wall. Opposite, low tables and banquettes hug the perimeter, with soft, indirect lighting and acoustic panels keeping the sound warm rather than shouty. It feels like someone crossed a listening room with a modern Japanese lounge – plenty of atmosphere, but you can still hear the person next to you.
KL Cocktail Week Guest Shift – Allen Fang of Asian Flush, Shanghai
Our visit lined up with KL Cocktail Week and a guest shift from Allen Fang, bartender at Asian Flush in Shanghai – a bar that’s only been open about eight months but is already getting talked about. The atmosphere had that fun, slightly geeky industry buzz: bartenders visiting friends, regulars dropping in to support the collab, and a menu made up entirely of Allen’s drinks.
This was very much his night, his flavours and his stories, woven into each glass while Lavantha’s team ran the room with calm efficiency.
If you want to see more of what Allen and the team get up to back in China, have a browse through Asian Flush’s Instagram – plenty of ideas there for future KL guest shifts too.
For a sense of how packed and playful KL Cocktail Week can get overall, it’s also worth scrolling through the official reels on the KLCW Instagram – Lavantha fits right in with that line‑up.
Stay Gold, No Rush – Peanut Oil and Patience in a Glass
My wife ordered Stay Gold, No Rush, one of Allen’s guest‑shift signatures. The twist that caught her attention – and became the talking point of the drink – was peanut oil. When we chatted briefly with Allen he said it was his take on the current wave of olive‑oil cocktails: if everyone else is going Mediterranean, he’s going peanut, leaning into something a little more nostalgic and Asian.
In the glass, that peanut oil translated into this slick, gentle richness that wrapped around the other flavours instead of shouting over them. It was the sort of drink that invites you to slow down, sip, think for a second and then go back in. Name well chosen.
The Non‑Alcohol Gap – When a Fixed Menu Means One Round Only
Where the night fell a little short for me was on the non‑alcohol side. The guest‑shift menu was locked to Allen’s cocktails, with no space carved out for a zero‑proof option. I’m the non‑drinker in the duo, so while my wife was having a great time with her Stay Gold, No Rush, my choices boiled down to water or… more water.
Contrast that with Penrose, where they had no issue building thoughtful alcohol‑free drinks for me on a previous visit. Same ownership, same city, completely different experience. It’s exactly why I keep saying KL Cocktail Week – and, honestly, most festival organisers – should insist on at least one proper non‑alcoholic serve on every event menu. There are plenty of us who want to join in the fun without the ABV and are happy to pay full cocktail prices for something crafted.
Huge credit to the team, though: Josh on the door, whom I’d met earlier at a KLCW activation where he was serving a Connors stout cocktail, made sure I had a chilled bottle of water in hand and a comfortable spot while my wife enjoyed her drink. The hospitality is there; it just needs the liquid options to match.
Cured and Hydrated Wagyu Beef Chips – The Snack You Must Order
One of the highlights of the evening didn’t come in a glass at all, but on a tiny plate. While we were chatting, the chef came out to talk us through Lavantha’s food direction – Japanese‑influenced, tight and designed for pairing – and casually mentioned cured and hydrated Wagyu beef chips. That phrase alone was enough to make our eyes light up.
A few minutes later he reappeared with a couple for us to try. Thin, crisp, deeply savoury and full of beef flavour without being greasy or heavy – “wowser” just about covers it. They’re the sort of snack that makes you wish you’d ordered a full bowl instead of “just a taste”.
Why Lavantha Still Belongs on Your KL Bar List
Guest‑shift quirks aside, Lavantha clearly has the bones of a great bar: a striking vault setting, Jon Lee’s obsessive approach to flavour, a team that takes hospitality seriously and a menu structure that mirrors Penrose’s focus on Tall, Sharp, Forward and Savoury styles. On a regular service night, when the full menu is in play and the bartenders have room to improvise, I’d expect the experience to be outstanding for both drinkers and non‑drinkers.
We’ll definitely be back on a non‑festival evening to see Lavantha fully in its own groove. For this particular night though, once my wife had finished her Stay Gold, No Rush and we’d polished off those Wagyu beef chips, we made our way back out through the vault door, up to street level and straight over to PS150 – a Chinatown double‑header that turned into one of our favourite KL bar‑hopping evenings yet.