Food and music. Two things that bring people together, creating community and culture. Swee Lee Social Club tops the charts in both - creating a comfortable space for music lovers to meet, mingle, listen to, make and buy music, all over a good meal.
Swee Lee’s is well established as Asia’s largest music retailer with stores in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. But the Social Club, located on the third floor of Lot 10 in downtown KL, is an interesting concept that combines a small vinyl shop, an extensive guitar and instrument store with a cosy café restaurant – serving up great food and music, two great things that bring people together.
To keep things interesting, you never know what music you might hear while dining, shopping and hanging out, as the staff take turns playing tunes of their choice, which can vary from Radiohead to ACDC to Chaka Khan to Al Green. There are also times when you get to enjoy live music and small jam sessions, with guest musicians and regular customers playing acoustic sets.
While the vinyl section is small, Swee Lee’s has a wide range of intriguing and sometimes rare albums that include artists such as The Cure, Lonnie Liston Smith, The Cars and even Ariana Grande. The guitar section is quite large, with a vast amount of acoustic and electric guitars, drums, DJ and mix machines, keyboards and lots of accessories, making it a one-stop-shop for bands and music minded people. Swee Lee’s wants to make music accessible and friendly, so customers are welcome to try out the instruments and get advise from the knowledgeable staff, without the pressure to buy.
So, music is the first part of the social equation at Swee Lee’s. - and they offer a good variety of it. The second part is the food. And Swee Lee’s is a hit with this too. For a cosy café at the back of the club, the restaurant has a decent variety of sandwiches, wraps, salads, fries and even a big breakfast. There are also waffles, smoothie bowls and a line of speciality coffees, cold brews and filter coffees, teas. hot chocolate and smoothies. There is also a dessert window loaded with homemade cakes including cheesecake, red velvet and tiramisu, to name a few. All at pretty affordable prices.
The list of vegetarian/vegan items is limited, but they are looking to expand the menu to have more such items., and the chef is quite accommodating where possible. So keep an eye out for these changes.
I was started off with their cold filtered white coffee (RM10), which is a home brew, and the Melody Smoothie Bowl (RM15) Swee Lee’s works with PPP Coffee, so the quality of coffee is first rate. The Melody Bowl, a blend of mango, banana and passion fruit with coconut flakes and toasted almond slices, was cool and refreshing, especially in this hot Malaysian weather.
I also enjoyed the Salmon Nicoise Salad (RM22), minus the salmon, which was deliciously creamy homemade Nicoise dressing and tossed with red radishes, black olives, cherry tomatoes and a generous variety of greens. Very fresh and tasty.
I’m a tomato ketchup fiend, and I look for any excuse to overdue my dipping, but the Basket of Fries (RM6), fat fries tossed in butter and seasoned with salt and paprika, were very tasty on their own and really didn’t need any help from the ketchup.
My taste buds were really blown away by the Apple Crumble Brulee Waffle (RM8, with ice cream + RM8), a Belgian waffle drizzled with custard sauce, topped with brown sugar, served with biscuit crumbs and homemade apple sauce. The waffle was thick but light and the custard gave such a nice Brulee flavour. Topped with vanilla ice cream, it was really amazing!
I was also really enjoyed the seasonal drink, which was fresh Lavender Lemonade. With a slice of lemon on a salted rim glass, this drink was a wonderful balance of sour and sweet. Rarely have I had such a nice glass of lemonade.
Overall, the food at Swee Lee’s Social Club all tastes very fresh, offers a variety of creative dishes, and, most importantly, is delicious. Swee Lee’s is open daily from 10 am to 10 pm, with the last order at 9.30 pm.
I really enjoyed my experience at Swee Lee’s. I went on a weekday, during office hours. There were several customers typing away on their laptops, some in conversation, and some sitting on the sofas relaxing. I think if you go with friends on a weekend or evening, you could have a tasty, toe-tapping time!
T16 & T17, 3rd Floor, Lot 10 Shopping Centre, 50 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Bukit Bintang, 50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone: +60 12-983 3420
Open daily from 10 am to 10 pm
