IPPUDO | MAiSEN Bangsar Shopping Centre is home to Malaysia’s first House of Suntory Highball Bar—and it makes a compelling case for the highball as the definitive izakaya drink.
In Japan, the izakaya is more than a place to drink. It is where the evening loosens, where the food arrives in waves, where the glass is always being refilled and where colleagues become friends . The highball—a simple cocktail of whisky, ice, soda, and citrus—is the drink that presides over it all.
That culture has found a new home in Bangsar. IPPUDO | MAiSEN at Bangsar Shopping Centre is now home to Malaysia’s first House of Suntory Highball Bar, an addition that transforms an already compelling Japanese dining destination into something closer to the full izakaya experience.
Born out of Necessity
The highball’s place in Japanese culture is inseparable from the story of Suntory. When founder Shinjiro Torii built Japan’s first malt whisky distillery in Yamazaki in 1923, he was working against prevailing wisdom. The heavily smoky Scotch whiskies of the era were too foreign for Japanese sensibilities—too bold, too aggressive for a palate accustomed to subtlety and restraint. Torii’s response was to forgo the Scotch template and craft something Japan could call its own: clean, refined, and rooted in the gentle character of Japanese water and climate. Thus, the Kakubin whisky was born out of necessity to adapt.
The highball became the vehicle through which that whisky reached the people. In the years following World War Two, as Japan rebuilt from scarcity, Suntory opened thousands of Torys bars across the country—serving Kakubin lengthened with soda and ice, affordable by the glass and accessible to everyone. Today, even as Japanese whiskies command global prestige and premium prices, the highball remains the serve of choice in izakayas across the country, exactly because it strips away the formality and returns the whisky to its social function.
What Makes a Good Highball?
The highball’s democratic origins belie the precision required to make one well. Suntory ambassador Darwin Ng breaks it down to four ingredients: whisky, ice, citrus, soda—each non-negotiable, each playing a specific role in the final glass.
For the best highball, whisky is kept in the freezer before service. Due to its alcohol content, it resists freezing, but the cold increases viscosity for a creamier mouthfeel and slows dilution from the start. The ice is equally important: what House of Suntory calls “ninja ice” is clear ice free of air bubbles, virtually invisible in the glass, melting slower and preserving the drink’s integrity from first sip to last. The citrus sits at the bottom of the glass beneath the ice, distributing its flavour evenly through the drink versus concentrating at the surface. The soda is kept as cold as possible because cold soda holds finer bubbles for longer, and its carbonic acid works in harmony with the citrus acidity to lift the spirit.
In the glass, the effect is immediate. The ice disappears into the drink. The bubbles rise steadily, refreshing the palate with each sip, a quality particularly valuable alongside bar food.
The Izakaya Experience
The House of Suntory Highball Bar is a distinct section within IPPUDO | MAiSEN Bangsar Shopping Centre, separated from the main dining area in both design and atmosphere. Where the restaurant leans into traditional Japanese warmth akin to a sushi bar or ramen joint, the bar pulls in a different direction with darker wood and more contemporary lines. A bell behind the bar invites guests to ring for a round of shots for the room, and a Kakubin highball tower makes the communal instinct easy to act on.
The entire House of Suntory portfolio is present at the bar. Kakubin, the whisky that built the Torys bar culture, remains the most approachable expression—lightly honeyed, versatile, and fittingly the base for the tower serve. Hibiki, the blended masterwork of the range, is harmonious and layered, heady enough to be perceived without being overbearing. As a highball, it is the most balanced expression in a way that’s difficult to put down. Hakushu and Yamazaki are exceptional whiskies in their own right, but in highball form the premium expressions may find their truest expression on the rocks or in a craft cocktail, where their complexity has more room to breathe.
The izakaya instinct is to order food alongside for a post-office hours commune. The highball’s bubbling acidity is a natural palate cleanser, cutting through the sinful slick of grease from MAiSEN’s legendary tonkatsu or lifting through the rich sheen of IPPUDO’s tonkotsu broth. IPPUDO’s Hakata-style ramen, pioneered by founder and Ramen King Shigemi Kawahara, anchors the menu alongside newer additions including Kurobuta Ramen and a Classic Veggie Ramen built on aromatic mushroom broth and truffle oil. MAiSEN, whose Tokyo flagship has occupied a repurposed 1920s bathhouse in Aoyama since 1965, contributes its legendary tonkatsu—a tenderloin so precisely prepared it may be cut with chopsticks—alongside the Tenderloin Katsumabushi served with dashi broth and onsen egg.
For those looking to explore the full range across an evening, the Kanpai Night promotion runs Thursday to Saturday from 8pm to 9pm, with a buy-one-free-one on selected drinks. A contemporary echo, perhaps, of the Torys bars that first brought the highball to the Japanese people.
IPPUDO | MAiSEN Bangsar Shopping Centre
Lot G110, Ground Floor,
Bangsar Shopping Centre,
Jalan Maarof, Bangsar,
59100 Kuala Lumpur (Maps)
Operation Hours:
Sun–Wed: 11.00AM–11.00PM
Thu–Sat: 11.00AM–12.00AM
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