Reka:Bar

Reka:Bar is Kuala Lumpur's most experimental cocktail bar, a place where drinks are made with the tools of a science laboratory. It describes itself as a post-modern flavour lab, and in 2026 it ranked number 63 on the extended Asia's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list, which praised its use of scientific equipment to extract flavour. It sits on Jalan Setia Bakti in Bukit Damansara, a smart neighbourhood west of the city centre.

The setting is as unusual as the drinks. The bar occupies an unremarkable shoplot, but inside the look is space-age, washed in blue light, and the bar top is built around a rotary evaporator, or rotovap, a piece of lab equipment used to capture delicate aromas and flavours at low temperatures. Even the drip tray has the bar's name spelled out in braille, a sign of the attention to detail.

The drinks often take Malaysian ingredients and transform them. The 50 Best organisation highlighted Dusun 2.0, a durian cocktail that uses lacto-fermentation to remove the fruit's notoriously pungent smell, leaving a custard-like twist on the pornstar martini. Past menus have included a signature list called The Domino Effect, in which each cocktail links to its neighbour through a shared ingredient, alongside a seasonal spotlight menu, with drinks such as a ginger and congee-inspired creation using Bentong ginger and a Negroni twist made with Perlis mangoes. The menu changes, so ask the bartenders what is current and how each drink was made.

Reka:Bar opens in the evening and stays open late, particularly at weekends. Check the bar's Instagram for current hours and booking before you go. It suits adventurous drinkers, cocktail enthusiasts and anyone who enjoys the story behind a drink; if you prefer classic cocktails, the bartenders can steer you towards something more familiar. Prices are in line with the city's other top cocktail bars.

Bukit Damansara is best reached by taxi or ride-hailing car, and the area has a good choice of restaurants for dinner first, including Aliyaa, the Bib Gourmand Sri Lankan restaurant nearby. Combine Reka:Bar with Three X Co in Bangsar, a short drive away, for a night exploring two of the city's most celebrated bars.