Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE RUMA HOTEL AND RESIDENCES

Travel to Malaysia, and you’re likely to be headed to its alluring beaches or the historic Straits cities of Penang and Melaka. But a recent explosion of chic hotels and restaurants has put Kuala Lumpur in the spotlight. These days, the menu at the swank open-air pool lounge of the Ruma Hotel & Residences includes the rum- and Campari-based tiki-bar staple, a Jungle Bird — here, the glass comes presented in a stylized metal birdcage. Just five years ago, nothing like that existed in KL — nothing like that cocktail; not a single hotel of Ruma’s caliber. Opened in late 2018, it brings a boutique’s design sensibility (take note of the showstopping twin spiral staircases in the lobby) and a sense of intimacy to a 253-room hotel. Bonafide boutique properties have landed here, too: the Chow Kit opened last fall with spaces by Studio Tack, the Brooklyn-based design firm behind a number of chic stateside properties, such as Scribner’s Catskill Lodge in New York and the Anvil Hotel in Wyoming. Major players have taken notice, too: Four Seasons and W landed in 2018, with Conrad and Kempinski following in 2021. Malaysian cuisine, with its mix of Chinese, Indian, and Malay influences, is among the world’s greats — and these days, it’s finally showing up in the capital’s high-end restaurants. The Ruma’s sleek ATAS, hipster-magnet ChoCha Foodstore, and the extraordinary OpenHouse, at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers, each offers a different angle on modern Malay cuisine, taking exciting liberties with local ingredients. — Carey Jones