DRINKING TO DUALITY

XO KL is the latest place in town for a fun night out with friends, we talk to the founders about their inspiration and aspiration for the lively bar.

-  FLOREY D MIKIL 

A cheery atmosphere and smiles just as bright as the neon lights lining the walls and ceiling are what greet anyone who steps foot into XO KL, a cosy yet lively bar tucked into a well-trodden corner of KL’s rejuvenated Chinatown. “We want people to feel comfortable when they come,” says Kim Raymond, who co-founded the bar along with Nico Fraile Taboada, Andy Yap, Mahsa Vahedi and a silent partner who is also the group’s close friend. “Then they come back more often; become regulars who feel like family.”

“What we know is hospitality,” Mahsa supplies, referring to the quintet’s respective backgrounds in F&B, she herself pulling double duty as the owner of Urbean Café after relocating from Austria to Malaysia seven years ago. “We don’t want to be a bar where you go, have a drink, and you leave. We want to build an experience.”