RESTAURANT-BAR Palate Palette would have celebrated its eighth anniversary this month. That’s a milestone in Kuala Lumpur’s fickle and fast-changing nightlife scene. But on June 1, regular customers of Palate Palette and friends of its management gathered at 21, Jalan Mesui, to bid farewell to the iconic establishment.
Yes, Palate Palette has shut down. But why should anyone care that a bar has closed down in Kuala Lumpur, or any city, for that matter?
For every one bar that closes, there will be another one or two to take its place. New is good for partygoers, isn’t it?
The answer: While there are so many nightspots in town, there aren’t many that foster a community, support local musicians and civil society and exude authenticity.
“It (Palate Palette) was rather special,” says a fan who frequented the space during its early years. “It was the hippest of the hip. The drinks were always wilder, the food always more colourful and the people always daring to try. I guess you could say it was controlled chaos.”
Indeed, the space was a rare place where well-dressed yuppies, artsy youths, social activists and Kuala Lumpur’s random could sit back and relax.
It was the preferred venue for non-mainstream creative endeavours, eclectic music, food feasts and the indie scene.
At one time, it was deemed the best place in KL to take a nap: in the afternoon, it was a serene space in a quiet row of old shophouses. At night, it was a bustling bar where patrons seemed like friends.
Within Palate Palette’s compound were shady trees, pebbled walkways, flowers and lots of colourful tables and mismatched chairs (some had angel wings!). It was an alternative, hang-out loved by patrons for its low-key, free-love vibe and whimsical décor .
Each corner was an explosion of inspiration, thrown together in a way that strangely worked — flamingo heads and carousel horses, wooden frames that did not contain any important art.
Why close? Why now?
Palate Palette’s announcement of its closure certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. Why now? It opened in 2007, way before Changkat Bukit Bintang and its surrounds became the place to go for a night of partying.
More importantly, it had stayed open for so many years. When it opened, it was one of two bars on a quiet side street, which only housed music venue No Black Tie.
Today, Jalan Mesui is home to trendy cafés such as Feeka Coffee Roasters, Peranakan restaurant Lima Blas, the trendy Pisco Bar, a backpacker hostel and a giant commercial development.
For the co-owners, spouses Wong Su-Ann and Lim Si Siew, it was not easy to pull the plug on Palate Palette. The idea for the bar had been conceived during Wong’s days as a design student in London. Armed with business partner and executive chef Paul Lai’s wealth of experience on the food and beverage scene, Palate Palette took off.
The truth was, shutting down had been at the back of their minds some five years into the running of Palate Palette.
F&B operators know how taxing the industry is. There is very little downtime. During weekends, the business is in full swing, and holidays are rare.
Wong says they got tired of juggling between running the restaurant-bar and caring for their two boys Ziggy and Zion.
Lim recalls how they hardly spent weekends together as a family. Friday and Saturday nights were always for work. That’s life if you’re in the restaurant business, adds Wong. “Especially after No 2 came along, there’s only so much energy that I could put into the business and I hated that I couldn’t give it my all. I was not there as often as I could be or should be, or wanted to be.”
Why selling wasn’t an option
Although running Palate Palatte was taxing on the duo, they weren’t the type to let go and allow others to run the show.
“We were not a typical bar and restaurant that would do things the same way, day in and day out. There were other things that we did, different events for which you needed to be there to make sure it all went well,” says Wong.
This is probably why they had not opened a second branch or built a franchise. They had considered taking the concept to other spaces. They were offered to open in many places, even in Penang, says Wong.
“It’s not a franchise kind of place. We couldn’t photocopy it and place it somewhere else and expect it to take off,” adds Lim. “What made [Palate Palette] so special was that it was very personal.”
Wong and Lim reveal that there were some parties who had been keen to take over the business, but ultimately, the deals fell through as they were unable to deal with the rising rent and cost of operating in the city. Wong and Lim decline to disclose how much they had invested in Palate Palette or when the business turned profitable.
“It was hard to find someone to take over and do something with the business. They either decided they didn’t have the finances, things didn’t match or they didn’t have the right mind for it,” says Lim. “It just wasn’t feasible anymore under the circumstances.”
At the recent “Challenges of the F&B Industry in 2014 and the Prospects for 2015” roundtable discussion moderated by the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Stewart Forbes, F&B players submitted a memorandum to the government with recommendations on how to overcome the challenges faced by the industry. Among the issues are the rate of excise duties that will be imposed on F&B outlets in view of the impending implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and rising inflation that is driving consumers to buy contraband products.
What’s ahead?
So, is another F&B outlet on the cards for Lim and Wong?
After closing Palate Palatte, Lim and Wong hit the road with their two boys. They say they have no plans to open another F&B venture.
What they do have up their sleeve is an idea for an eco-friendly beach resort. Whatever’s next, Lim and Wong are two people to watch.
This article first appeared in #edGY, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on December 29, 2014 - January 04, 2015.
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