Is this the Malaysian capital’s most ambitious bar to date?

Case Study brings lessons learned in Singapore back home to Kuala Lumpur. By Natasha Hong.

Two returning Malaysians Alvin Auyong and Joel Poon, who met in Singapore’s Library bar in October 2014, are now behind the stick at Bangsar’s Case Study. Housed in the still-operational Art Printing Works factory, the bar is part of the new A Place Where lifestyle wing of the property, shared with a co-working space, event spaces, and other f&b concepts. “The current trend of opening a speakeasy has honestly created a lot of places that are more style than substance,” charges Auyong. “We were thinking of what we can do that’s post-speakeasy.” This puts Case Study in a glassy greenhouse space hemmed in by outdoor seating and an urban garnish garden, and an industrial look fabricated with burnished metal and reused printing machinery.

On the drinks front, the fun, emoji-inspired, hand-sketched menu lists cocktails named after their unconventional vessels – The Terrarium, Watering Can, Coconut Coupe. “We struggled to come up with puns for the cocktails, unlike Nicholas Quattroville [the Library’s ex-head barman],” jokes Auyong. Prep is a six- to seven-hour undertaking each day, in which they brew, pickle and powder shrubs, syrups, infusions and garnishes. The results have an impressively experimental flavour range, which despite their complex construction, are reasonably priced at RM36. Imagine Asian flavours such as kailan cordial, curry yoghurt and ghee-washed rum combined with foreign elements such as dill, cream cheese and red bell pepper water – and the team find multiple uses for every ingredient to prevent waste.