Manchu Bar — Restaurant in George Town

Ambience and decor are sumptuous and delightfully detailed. But the service is atrocious. We ordered two cocktails and a steamed dim sum. The food arrived before the drinks; we thought this might be due to our switching to more comfortable seating once it had been cleared of previous clients' glasses. Cocktails still hadn't arrived by the time we finished our porky snack, so I got up to check on the drinks. The staff were huddled around the end of the bar chatting. I had to interupt them to ask about our cocktails. Turns out they never even made them! Or if they had, they had been sent to another table. We decided to leave without our cocktails. The waiter said sorry a few times while he handled our payment, but did not even think to remove the 10% service charge from the bill.

While leaving we became a bit confused about where exactly the exit was - we were there around the afternoon-evening shift change and since Manchu is a fairly large place, the entrance and exit had been switched around since we had arrived. When we tried to push and pull on the wrong doors and walk through areas we had already been through, the staff did little to nothing to indicate where the exit was. The waiter who had handled our payment actually looked up at me and then back down to the iPad POS as I tried to push the door we had entered through.

It is a real shame that the standard of front of house service is so abysmal. Manchu has clearly had a lot of money, time, and energy invested in creating its pleasant environment (tbh probably less so in its menu), but the staff's behavior and their apparent lack of any training worthy of its drink and food price tag really ruins...

Took awhile to locate the door to the bar, full house at 930pm however fortunately got a seat. This hidden bar consists of 2 units with a walkway in between. Live band in 1 unit and the cocktail bar counter in the other unit.

Mandarin oriental vibes permutes throughout this joint - the interior, decor, lighting and waitress dress code (cheongsum). Love the vibes! Mandarin live band was amazing! In between sets, the DJ spinning is 👍🏼

Cocktails (RM45-62 per cocktail) were well balanced and innovative. All the cocktails we ordered were good - the Yuzu whiskey sour takes a slightly different style of the usual lemo whiskey sour which had more depth to it. Cixi’s opium puff as the name suggested was served with smoke released from a burning cinnamon kept on the glass and in a bell jar - 100% for esthetic and instagrammablity. The Dried grapes Negroni and Penang mule were slightly different renditions of the usual Negroni and Moscow mule.

Food offerings wise were more of finger food with a twist.

Grilled mussels with breadcrumbs were good. Siew mai infused with truffle oil was yummy when ate hot.

Btw, have to give it up to their marketing for the WiFi name “OrderFirst_WifiLater” 😂

Highly recommended for everything - ambience, cocktails, food,...

A business traveler, and semi-pro drinker, my hobby is seeking out the best cocktail bars in the cities I visit. It’s always a gamble, especially in smaller cities, but occasionally I find a hidden gem.

Manchu is one of those. Like many of the establishments in George Town, the outside has an unassuming, run down look. But walking thru the door was like Alice going down the rabbit hole.

Chinese lanterns hang from the ceiling, casting a subdued red glow within each of the 2 large rooms. At the center of one room is the stage, adorned with red carpet, red velvet curtains, and asian stonework. From above, out of the ceiling, hangs an impressively large, red-eyed dragon, it’s open mouth ready to strike the young musician seated inches below.

The cocktail menu covers 3 pages - Imperial (Manchu house recipes), classics, and Manchu versions of some classics. The cocktails are as impressive as the ambiance. Neither overly complex or fancy, each of the 3 I tried were well very balanced and on point.

It’s relaxed vibe, great drinks, and impressive ambiance puts Manchu at the top of the list for anyone looking for a respite from the heat and...