Chow Kit used to be a seedy neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur’s earlier days. Particularly around Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Raja Laut, where sex work, drug use and addiction, petty crime and vulneratble populations were rampant. Today, it has been cleaned up with scars of the past etched into the neighbourhood. Parts of Chow Kit are undergoing modernisation, with new cafes and restaurants opening. Still, it is advisable to exercise caution and avoid walking in poorly lit alleyways at night. Use taxis or ride-shares for late-night transport.
The Chow Kit was formerly a Tune Hotel and was refurbished and transformed into this swanky boutique hotel in 2019. It is cosy and features mostly 15 sqm rooms. The Tow Kay Suite is the next best category, which is around 20 sqm, and the largest suite category is the two Tow Kay Soh Suites. Yes, it’s the lady boss who gets the largest rooms here in the six-level building.
Rooms here feature comfortable beds and basic amenities. Water dispensers and an locked cupboard of amenities are available at the lift lobby on every room floor. Accessible with the room key card, guests and help themselves to bottled water, more towels from the amenity cupboard.
The Tow Kay Suite where we stayed in was cramped with a desk and some space to hang clothes. The addition space in the Tow Kay Suite that differentiates it from the other rooms is the television corner with a sofa. Floor to ceiling windows showcase the LRT train that frequents the above ground tracks. Thanks to triple glazed windows, sound from outside doesn’t get into the room.
The ground and mezzanine floors seem to be popular with weddings or events. The restaurant was occupied with weddings both the night after we checked in and for lunch the next day. We’ve seen two weddings couples during our stay. Congratulations to the newly weds. We could feel the festivities of the happy occasion. There is also a private salon next to the lounge area beyond the check in counter. Very cosy, but full of character. Though sound travels up, so you may be able to hear the chatter and celebrations in the public spaces on the upper floors.
Facilities are basic. But on the roof top above level 6 is an outdoor space you can get out to take in the morning fresh air or set your eyes on the surrounding landscape as the sun sets. We didn’t get to enjoy either. It was raining when we did our hotel tour.
The lunch we had after checking in was A Taste of Chow Kit set menu for two. Served in a round tray of local dishes, it was a great taster of traditional local fare. Some more enjoyable than others. I had two squid dishes. Squid Sambal Petai and Pegaga Salad that I particularly enjoyed. The Pucuk Paku was a very addictive fern vegetable that my untrained eye mistook for Sabah’s medin, another fern dish we absolutely adore.
The Johor Laksa with its thicker sauce compared to Laksa from other regions, was a bit on the saltier side. Served with cucumber, ginger flower, lime and other condiments, it was definitely an eye opener. Not the soupier versions we are familiar with.
The fragrant Nasi Ulam with all its fragrant herbs and spices went perfectly with the Rendang Daging and the Ayam Kampung Emas. If only the chicken wasn’t so dry and tough, it would have been perfect.
The set of five dishes and two carb dishes are priced at MYR220.
Whilst we did not venture within the neighbourhood in the night, we went on a guided walking tour the next morning and was given a glimpse into the seedy past, which gave us an uneasy feeling of the area. We suddenly didn’t feel so safe and some Malaysian friends we spoke to also told us there was no reason for them to visit the neighbourhood.
While some of us were distracted by the cat and her kittens, some of us were accosted by some sex workers. We also toured the temporary market which was housed in what was supposed to be a temporary structure, but has been around for some 20 years. The wet market was a curious spectacle of fresh tropical fruits and strange looking vegetables from the country, We also saw how workers busied steaming and roasting peanuts. We also stumbled into a fabric shop where we bought three different rolls of plastic table clothes, cut to size for us. They weighed some 5 kg, definitely felt like a sack of rice but it was good value.
A stay in Chow Kit was an eye-opener, not in a bad way, but one I recommend for the adventurous. The views from the room may not be as scenic as you would like, but it is a comfortable abode. Furthermore, getting around Kuala Lumpur by Grab is extremely convenient, but you’ll have to deal with traffic.
The Chow Kit
Address Address 1012 JALAN SULTAN ISMAIL, CHOW KIT, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Tel +603 2778 6666
Web https://www.thechowkit.com
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