While much of Kuala Lumpur’s hotel spotlight this year has been claimed by the arrival of Park Hyatt at Merdeka 118, another Hyatt brand is preparing to open with a very different identity. On 26 August, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown makes its debut, built first as a corporate hub but with a culinary strategy that is ambitious enough to stand on its own.

Keys to the City

Hyatt Regency KL Midtown rises in the fast-developing KL Midtown district, steps from MITEC and within reach of Mont Kiara’s corporate and expatriate community. Its positioning is clear: a modern business hotel for conferences, meetings, and extended stays.

Yet the property arrives with lifestyle undertones. Designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the 410-key hotel—306 rooms and suites plus 104 serviced residences—blends wood, stone, and soft light into a contemporary urban sanctuary. Guests staying long-term in the serviced residences also gain access to a sky pool on the 32nd floor, while the hotel’s infinity pool and Breeze Pool Bar add a welcome layer of leisure.

Cooking on Demand

Food, however, is where Hyatt Regency KL Midtown intends to make its mark. At Midtown Brasserie, Executive Chef Jonas Juchli—who earlier this year teased his approach at Hyatt’s Dine With Chef series during the Mother’s Day Brunch at IL Forno, Hyatt Centric City Centre—is rewriting the hotel buffet playbook.

Read also: IL Forno, Hyatt Centric City Centre KL — Trattoria D’eccellenza

Here, most dishes in the buffet spread are cooked à la minute, embodying a “waste not, want not” approach that reduces excess, preserves quality, and brings chefs into direct interaction with guests. For Kuala Lumpur, a city where buffets are often judged by sheer volume and notorious for wastefulness, this emphasis on freshness and precision is a reset worth noting.

Four Tables, Four Stories

Midtown Brasserie

The Brasserie is where Hyatt Regency KL Midtown makes its opening statement. As an all-day dining destination, it takes the buffet model and reworks it into something more engaging. Instead of endless rows of chafing dishes, the spread celebrates The Best of Asia, with regional favourites plated à la minute alongside international staples. Fresh mud crab is cooked to order, hand-pulled noodles are stretched before your eyes, and steaks are chosen from display and grilled only when requested.

Desserts also get their own spotlight. Executive Pastry Chef Jason de Oca uses award-winning 70% Kelantan Dark Chocolate across artisanal cakes and plated sweets, ensuring the sweet counter feels just as considered as the savoury.

Midtown Lounge

If the Brasserie is about bustle, Midtown Lounge is its graceful living room counterpart. Afternoon Tea here is a signature ritual, led by a trolley stacked with warm, freshly baked scones and artisanal sandwiches, paired with premium teas, fine champagnes, or handcrafted beverages. As day turns into evening, the lounge effortlessly transforms into a chic social hub, offering artisanal snacks, global small plates, and cocktails. It’s versatile enough for casual meetings, post-conference unwinds, or as a stylish prelude to dinner elsewhere in the hotel.

READ ALSO: The ARTÉnoon Tea Experience at Thirty8, Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

China House

China House brings a sense of ceremony to the hotel’s line-up. Master Chef Alan Shao focuses on Northern Chinese traditions, led by his wood-fired Peking duck roasted openly before being carved tableside, a performance in itself. The menu extends to dishes like Sichuan-style poached chicken with crushed peanuts and seasonal smoked fish, giving breadth to the table. A carefully assembled list of more than 50 teas adds a thoughtful dimension, inviting diners to treat the meal as a cultural journey rather than just another Chinese restaurant stop.

ENSŌ Izakaya & Bar

Opening in October, ENSŌ is the night-time alter ego of the hotel. Designed as a Tokyo-style izakaya with a KL twist, the space mixes yakitori skewers, sushi, sashimi, and seafood flown in from Toyosu Market with the buzz of a DJ-led soundtrack. Behind the bar, Monkey Shoulder Ultimate Bartender champion Ivon Soon curates cocktails that match the energy of the room, while an extensive liquour collection invites longer nights. With a 200-seat capacity and private dining rooms, ENSŌ is as suited to corporate hosting as it is to after-dark revelry, positioning the hotel firmly within KL’s dining and nightlife scene.

Raising the Glass

The orchestration extends beyond kitchens. Director of Food & Beverage Operations Sujin Kim, who previously shaped F&B at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and Dubai, has given Hyatt Regency KL Midtown’s beverage program a level of intent usually reserved for destination bars.

ENSŌ’s curated library of Japanese whiskies, artisanal gins, and craft spirits complements one of the city’s more extensive sake collections. Soon adds creative flair with cocktails that carry as much personality as the izakaya itself, making the bar as much a draw as the food. Elsewhere, the tone shifts. At Breeze, designed as a place to unwind and take in the city, cocktails are lighter and more refreshing—best enjoyed against the skyline backdrop of the infinity pool.

Together, these outlets ensure that the beverage program flows naturally from lively evenings to laid-back afternoons, giving Hyatt Regency KL Midtown a social heartbeat to match its culinary one.

More Than a Business Hotel

With 410 keys and a sizeable inventory of meeting and function spaces, Hyatt Regency KL Midtown is unmistakably designed with corporate travel and MICE traffic in mind. Its location, situated beside MITEC and near MATRADE, positions it as a natural hub for conferences, exhibitions, and business gatherings.

Yet the debut of the hotel has been framed through food. From a reimagined buffet culture at Midtown Brasserie to the theatre of duck carving at China House, and from izakaya buzz at ENSŌ to elegant afternoon tea at Midtown Lounge, the message is clear: Hyatt Regency KL Midtown does not want to be remembered only as a conference hotel. Dining has been built into its bones from the start.

For those staying in Club rooms or holding Hyatt’s coveted Globalist status, the Regency Club adds another layer of comfort. Breakfast, light bites, and evening cocktails are served in a private setting that feels more intimate, extending the food-and-beverage story into an experience reserved for the hotel’s most loyal guests.

2025 is a landmark year for Hyatt in Kuala Lumpur. Park Hyatt brings refinement at Merdeka 118, while Hyatt Regency shapes a more social, versatile counterpart at KL Midtown. Together, they add new texture to how the city dines.

Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown opens 26 August 2025. Reservations are now open, with the Opening Offer available at hyatt.com.

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