The Chow Kit — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For too long now, Kuala Lumpur’s cache of five-star hotels have tended to default towards the cliché of big marble foyers and equally massive flower arrangements. Hats off then to the fledgling locally-based Ormond Group for its chutzpah.
For starters, its debut property, the 113-room The Chow Kit, is named after the nearby street market and red-light district in buzzy Jalan Sultan Ismail, just around the corner from the Shangri-La.
Inspired by the neighbourhood’s colour and somewhat seedy reputation, the Brooklyn-based Studio Tack has created an appropriately moody noir-ish vibe which it layers with thick fabrics, tufted banquettes, and rugs.
The public spaces – dressed with locally commissioned artwork and conceived, much like an Ace hotel lobby, as a neighbourhood hangout – are neatly set off by the rooftop yoga and meditation pavilion, and an in-house restaurant serving up a menu of updated Malaysian standards. All of which is a promising start to next month’s opening next door of the Ormond’s micro-room hotel, MoMo.
ADDRESS
316 Jalan Sultan Ismail
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Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
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