KUALA LUMPUR — Ask which city has the best bars in Asia and people usually start talking about Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. The first two are business and finance hubs generating cash and customers that attract mixologists, sommeliers and craft brewers from across the world. The latter has a long-standing reputation as a party town.
Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, is rarely mentioned. Yet, despite Malaysia’s 15% alcohol tax and occasional raids by police looking for illicitly boozing Muslims — whose religion forbids the consumption of alcohol — the bar scene here is thriving.
