KL's best bars with a view

It’s one thing to have a bar overlooking a close-up vista of the KL skyline, but to up the advantage with a wildly inventive and attractive menu? Fuego is just waiting for you to applaud. The resto-bar demonstrates exactly how creativity and food should be married: smoked quail eggs, snails with parsley in a jar, and a flask of bourbon encased in a book. Customers are clamouring to get into Fuego for the alfresco vibe, the eclectic decor with Talavera-style floor tiles as well as the theatrical food presentation – all these elements bask in the company of the Petronas Twin Towers in the distance.

If Marini’s On 57’s hushed Italian restaurant lulls you into a sense of calm, its rooftop bar (also the highest in KL on the 57th floor of Petronas Tower 3) is incessantly buzzing with thumping music and the sound of shuffling feet. Floor-to-ceiling windows with a glass roof open up the space, offering a view that extends out to the KL suburbs and mountains in the distance. And if that’s not breathtaking enough, look up to find the tallest twin peaks in the world staring back at you.

The bar’s well-positioned swimming pool in the middle of the room is just begging for someone to take a dip. You can also relish the view outside the window, through which you can see the gleaming Petronas Twin Towers, Maxis Tower and Jalan Ampang’s messy traffic in one incredible vista. Excellent cocktails, a groovy dancefloor and a handsome crowd – no wonder SkyBar is booked out every New Year’s Eve.

It’s the perfect spot to drink until the sun goes down. At dusk, Heli Lounge’s helipad area affords you a 360-view of one of the best sunsets in the city before segueing into a panorama of flickering city lights after dark. The owners have yet to build barricades around the helipad, so groove to the live band, drink up and don’t look down.

There are only so many places in KL where you can sip champagne in a garden –M8 (the bar adjoining Marble 8) is one of them, and the wrap-around view of the cityscape is an added bonus. Instead of peering down from a taller structure, you’re gazing upwards, taking in the sight of the KLCC park and the surrounding towers. Here’s a quiet oasis where you can while away the night with fine wines and admire the view without having to worry about vertigo.

Think an upscale New York loft but with an outdoor patio that overlooks the stunning city view. Sip on some expensive wines and you might just find yourself in a ‘Sex and the City’ moment.

From this grassed rooftop helipad, what you’ll see is mostly an overview of Bandar Utama. But when the night is cool, the cocktails taste better when you’re 30 storeys up.