Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tate, The Intermark Kuala Lumpur

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll notice that we mostly do lunches and sometimes dinner (for special ocassions) and hardly any drinking. Back in November, we stayed in Doubletree by Hilton for my birthday. After our meal in Frangipani, we were back at the hotel peeking into Estate (at that time it wasn't opened yet). The manager Kevin came out and we started speaking to him. I remember reading on Sean's blog about Tate, but have never "seen" it whenever we were in The Intermark so we asked Kevin as to its whereabouts. 

And there it was... hidden behind an inconspicuous white two-way door, we did not notice its location until Kevin pointed it out to us. I shall not reveal exactly where it is; for those who haven't been before, looking for it is half the fun.


Look for the top hat and you will have found the entrance to Tate


Tate is a watering hole with a difference. It is the first establishment in Malaysia to embrace the speakeasy concept.

For the uninitiated, speakeasy bars were commonplace in the United States during Prohibition in the 1920s when the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Secret drinking dens were formed to fulfil the desire to consume alcohol. It is believed the term "speakeasy" originated in Pennsylvania in 1888, where the ladyboss would hush her customers by saying "speak easy boys", when they get too rowdy to keep from drawing attention to her illegal business.

Once you have found the white door, enter and be greeted by this knight in shining armour. Inside, the place is dimly lit exuding a mysterious yet classy ambience. There is also a pool table, three private rooms and a cigar room. Charlie Chaplin played on the TV before us. We were the only two in there (for a while), so it definitely felt exclusive. 


Private space



Pool table


Famous quote from sporting icon Muhammad Ali.


We made a deal and switched off from our devices (no phones, no iTouch allowed) -- just some quiet time, enjoying our drinks and playing the "Chit" card game provided to us... it was rather entertaining. :)


Tell me..


A game of chess if you're up to it


The bar


Hubby had Macallan 12 years whisky on the rocks (RM24). The whisky here was served with an ice ball, which is designed to melt at a slower rate compared to common ice cubes.. resulting in consistently flavoured chilled whisky from the first sip to the last.



I wanted to order a Mojito but the mixologist said he would make me a special drink depending on what I like. I asked for something fruity, and he came up with a Mary Hendricks (RM38) for me... the primary ingredient being Hendricks Gin.


Call this number if you're really lost... hehe.. 

Can you find it?

Location: Tate, The Intermark KL. 

23 comments:

  1. You are right, it is fun to go find this place:D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the cocktails here! It's a very classy place:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the cocktails here are rather potent too. :)

      Delete
  3. I love the cosiness and secret feel of this place. It like a secret hideout. My only complaint is too many smokers... When will Malaysia turn smoke free for enclosed spaces?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We were lucky that when we were there, there wasn't any smokers there. Or else it would have put me off completely too. Yeah wish Malaysia would go smoke-free inside restaurants/bars too. Sigh.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Gong Xi Fatt Chai to you and your family too :)

      Delete
  5. What a hidden bar! Sounds like a fun game trying to look for it :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should try going there, it's a really cool place for drinking and catching up.

      Delete
  6. ooo, the mary hendricks looks good! i wonder if i could get my own personalized cocktail. maybe i could call it a Sean Collins, heheh :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe perhaps you can try and ask the mixologist, Karl. Very nice chap. What would the ingredients be in your "Sean Collins" cocktail, I wonder?

      Delete
  7. i love macallan .......
    I got a gadget that make ice ball....
    In Japan, i went to a pub where they carve the iceball manually.. awesome...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks like a classy place. I also want the Mary Hendricks! :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We should all go and ask the mixologist to custom make something different for everyone. Test his skills :P

      Delete
  9. Mary Hendricks looks good.

    This is a nice cozy place to chill over drinks if one is downtown. They have quite a good range of cigars too that made my hubster a happy boy when we visited them recently for whiskey and cigar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah.. your hubby is into cigars?

      Delete
    2. yeah...picked it up of late. we are both none smokers but strangely this man has fallen in love with cigars after some good ones during our bali and phuket trip.

      Delete
  10. so nice...i would love to explore that place and take a long seat just to play chess. :)

    a visit from philippines.

    http://ohbite.blogspot.com/2012/01/thailand-terrific-magical-ride-of-nam.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah when we went, it was quiet hence we just sat there and played the card game while enjoying our drinks.

      Delete
  11. well lucky u for it b close to empty. we went on a sat nite for my friend's birthday and it was packed to the brim!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah ok.. well we did go on a Wednesday night and it filled up a little more after midnight.

      Delete

Please drop any comments or questions you may have here. Thank you so much for reading!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...