Two New Boutique Hotels for KL

December 3, 2019

Hotels 0

1690

Two new hotels – The Chow Kit and Momo’s – from the Ormond Hotel group have opened in the Malaysian capital.

Located in the heart of old Kuala Lumpur, The Chow Kit – an Ormond Hotel is the Malaysian capital’s newest boutique hotel. Boasting 113 rooms and suites in the eponymous Chow Kit neighbourhood, known for its bustling market and local businesses, The Chow Kit has been positioned as the city’s first design-led, experience-driven hotel inspired by an area of the city that is famously rich in character and history.

The Chow Kit pays homage to its neighbourhood, offering business travellers a magnetic and alluring hub that reflects its location by marrying tradition with modernity, blending cosmopolitan finishes with cosy comfort, making it feel more like a home than a hotel.

Both the architecture and interiors of The Chow Kit have been developed by Brooklyn-based design practice Studio Tack, which was inspired by the late-night revelry that lurked in the shadows of Chow Kit’s alleys and bars in the 1970s and 1980s. The Chow Kit is Studio Tacks’s first project in Asia.

Whilst The Chow Kit will feature carefully selected, modern amenities any 21^st-century guest would expect of a boutique hotel, the building honours and reinterprets the past, with local materials showcased throughout. This is also apparent through the hotel’s Art Programme, where carefully curated artworks will feature throughout the public areas and guestrooms; individually selected from private collections and commissioned from local artists in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Stripping back the excess and focusing on what matters most, guests will experience a fusion of local Malaysian culture and modern design without compromising on service, amenities or location. Guest rooms will offer a reflection of the layered history and culture of Kuala Lumpur with thoughtful design touches that make guests feel at home. Each room exudes mystery and elegance whilst remaining light and peaceful. All guestrooms feature plush beds, an open wardrobe and desk space, a smart TV, bespoke toiletries and a self-pickup room service concept.

The public spaces at The Chow Kit effortlessly blend the energetic, gritty atmosphere of its location with the serenity expected from an upscale, boutique hotel. The romantic lobby invites guests to linger from day to night and will feature rich fabrics and textiles that would have been traded in old Chow Kit. Packed with deep, tufted banquets, lounge chairs and layered rugs, the lobby is reminiscent of a casual social parlour where secrets are divulged and stories exchanged and is a place where locals and guests collide, creating an energy that is intimate, relaxed and infectious.

The Chow Kit Kitchen is the heart and soul of the hotel and promises to be a place of social and physical nourishment, where people come together and collectively participate in the most basic human function – to eat. Inspired by the local Malaysian kopitiams, traditional cafés, the restaurant is centrally located so that its energy and liveliness pulsate throughout the lobby.

Open all-day, guests will be able to enjoy an à la carte breakfast, including both continental and Malaysian inspired dishes, a quick business catch-up over an express lunch menu or family-style sharing plates, based on reimagined Malaysian favourites for dinner. Hero dishes include the Tomato Laksa Soup, Rendang Beef Burger and The Chow Kit Fish & Chips, with tandoori marinated fish. The bar will offer signature cocktails from 11 am to midnight and the venue will host regular restaurant pop-ups, featuring guest chefs and mixologists from around the world, throughout the year.

The ground floor is also home to The Library, a beautifully wallpapered space designed for complete privacy that’s perfect for private dining parties, of up to ten people, or small meetings. It features furniture that is as beautiful as it is functional, with a large wood and marble table adding character and warmth.

For business travellers looking to relax, The Chow Kit’s rooftop has a dedicated yoga pavilion which will host a series of weekly yoga and meditation sessions.

The opening of The Chow Kit comes in tandem with the opening of the neighbouring MoMo’s, a second new social hotel brand from Ormond Group, created for a more value-conscious, lifestyle traveller.

Home to 99 guest rooms, MoMo’s KL is a newly renovated, exciting hangout in the city, providing a fun and laid-back multi-dimensional space where visitors and locals can collide in harmony. MoMo’s celebrates creative collaboration whilst offering a design-led lifestyle hotel at a value-for-money price point. Alongside micro rooms, MoMo’s KL will provide guests with a dynamic social space that engage with creative communities and urban nomads. The hotel has been designed to inspire memorable moments, through fun creative programming and a unique food and beverage offering.

On the ground floor, MoMosita’s, a new casual concept from leading Malaysian F&B operators Christian Bauer and Eddie Chew of Troika Sky Dining, is a fun, gritty, self-serve dive bar serving an array of Mexican dishes and snacks, alongside draft beer and bottled cocktails. The food offering includes Cauliflower and Lentil Tostada’s, Tacos with Chicken, Beef, Lamb Barbacoa or fish and both savoury and sweet Churros. Open in the evenings throughout the week, with late-night music programming on Fridays and Saturdays, MoMosita’s is the ultimate low-key hangout for guests and locals to let loose and mingle.

Reframing the hotel narrative from being a place to get a good night’s sleep to each hotel acting as a springboard to guests’ city experiences, MoMo’s KL encourages guests to live, play and stay. The traditional lobby is replaced by The Playground, a social space that acts as the central hub of activity. Located on the ground floor, The Playground is the hotel’s main events space, and one which will host a series of weekly events from performance art, workshops and exhibitions to DJ sets and live gigs. The Playground was conceptualized to encourage the best creative minds from the city and abroad to mingle.

The hotel’s micro-rooms feature bespoke amenities, plush beds, smart TVs and a safe, with a self-pickup style room service facility. Inward facing rooms look out onto a large gallery lightwell which provides the rooms with a curated moving image space. The design palette by Sydney based interiors and architecture studio Akin Atelier is made up of simple, honest materials with raw concrete, laminated timber and combed plaster featuring throughout. Notes of dusty pinks, washed greens and aged brass are consistent throughout the furnishings, fabrics and ornaments that bring MoMo’s design-focused, yet approachable, character to the fore.