100 Malaysians, 100 Milestones – LSA100 this year celebrates Jon Lee, founder and head bartender of Penrose, which made a huge leap in just its second year of operation, breaching the Top 10 and ranking a historic 8th place on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list as well as Top 100 in the World’s 50 Best Bars list.
It’s an amazing feeling to be able to say you’ve got the best bar in Malaysia and have it be a fact. With Penrose climbing 42 spots on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list in 2024 — ranking a historic 8th place, the highest spot for any bar in Malaysia ever — founder and head bartender Jon Lee has had an exciting and extremely busy year. Penrose ranked at number 50 last year, but what really makes this feat so impressive is that the bar only celebrated its second anniversary this July.
“I’ve done, like, 60 flights this year,” Jon tells me with a laugh, his tone conveying mild fatigue rather than self-satisfaction. (A scroll through his Instagram feed will tell you everything: Hokkaido, Japan in January for a special collaboration with a bar. Singapore, for the annual Bar Convent. Chiang Mai for an exclusive bar takeover. Then London for a guest shift and Hong Kong, most recently.) “There’s no time to reflect. I say this often, that with F&B, it’s very fast-paced in this day and age. As much as you wanna sit back, relax and digest things, I think when the time comes, it will come naturally.”
In other words, Jon doesn’t stop. And as much as his mind is always business-ready, he also seems to always be dressed for the occasion. He shows up for the LSA100 cover shoot in a dark burgundy suit sans tie — his usual bartending ‘uniform’. His tattoos are coyly peeking out of his collar and the sleeves of his jacket. (Little does he know, we’re dressing him down for the shoot, where these tattoos will be in full view.)
On top of the whirlwind year that he’s had — and two years shaping Penrose up to be what it is today — Jon reveals there’s a brand new bar brewing. “It’s gonna be called Lavantha,” he shares. “In the new bar, we’ll focus a bit more on Malaysian flavours — but not the common ones, like lemongrass and lychee. Something a bit more forgotten, I would say. Yeah, I think that is more or less the concept of it.”
The intention behind Lavantha is certainly going to be what draws the crowd in. Even with Penrose at its start, two years ago, Jon went in with a clear purpose: elevated classic cocktails, curated to taste. It’s the identity that Jon himself — along with his team — brought to the table that earned it the well-deserved recognition that it has received.
So of course, congratulations are in order — in just two years, Penrose made it to No. 8 on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, and No. 98 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. How does it feel to see your bar earn such recognition, and what does this accomplishment mean to you personally?
I think it’s great that… I mean, I trust my team and I think the team understands the direction we are moving to in Penrose. And it’s very heartwarming to know that a lot of people around the world and, you know, in Asia also recognise it. So, I think it’s a testament to everything that we’ve done. We don’t really focus so much on a lot, but it’s again very nice to know that someone else is kind of celebrating what we are doing. I think that’s very heartwarming.
And audience-wise, you guys do get a lot of patrons from all across Asia as well.
Yeah, Chinatown’s very strategic in that sense. I think most tourists, when they come here, Chinatown is the go-to spot. So, it was a relatively good decision to open in Chinatown to kind of capture a bit more of the global market, or just whoever’s passing by.
You have touched a bit on this last time we spoke, but just as a sort of ‘refresh’, what were some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced with Penrose?
Space. We need more space in Penrose. (laughs) Hence we have a new bar opening, around March-ish. It’ll still be the same team behind it. We will have Penrose cocktails there for people to try, and hopefully it gets really packed up. It’s about an eight-minute walk from Penrose. We won’t disclose the location yet, but it’s gonna be more loungey, more sections, a bit of a cigar lounge, and a VIP room. Still a good amount of bar seats and sofas. You’ve got more space to kind of, like, and enjoy and kind of relax in a more loungey setting. Penrose is still the flagship, yeah. Penrose is what I like to call the meat grinder of where I train, you know, some of the best people that I can work with for a long time, in other venues that we open as well.
This new bar, what’s the concept like? Is it going to be the same drinks-wise?
Drinks-wise, it’ll also fit into what we do, you know, the ‘elevated’ classics in Penrose. Essentially we take a classic, we kind of break it down and try to make it more… I wouldn’t say the word ‘acceptable’, but more digestible to more of the Asian palate. That’s the thing. For example, Luxardo Maraschino and Violet Liqueur can be too soapy for the local palates in that sense. So we kind of work around it to slowly introduce them to, you know, the beauty of what they are. But I think in the new bar — it’s gonna be called Lavantha — we’ll focus a bit more on the Malaysian flavours, but not the common ones, like lemongrass and lychee. Something a bit more forgotten, I would say. Yeah, I think that is more or less the concept of it.
What would you say is your biggest strength as a bartender and entrepreneur?
I think communication. With my team, if my guests and wherever you are heading to… I think, you know, it was Einstein that said something like, “If you are unable to simply explain what you’re very good at, you’re not very good at what you do.”
When we spoke last year, you said, “Things are moving so fast, and so beautifully well. I think I’ve gotta sit back and reflect a little on what’s going on.” Now reflecting on it a year later, how would you say you’ve grown from when you first began, to your success now?
There’s no time to reflect. (laughs) I say this often, that with F&B, it’s very fast-paced in this day and age. As much as you wanna sit back, relax and digest things, I think when the time comes, it will come naturally. But if it’s demanded from you through your guests, through friends, through any media outlets, I think you’ve just gotta keep your head up and keep going. Yeah, I think in that way, who knows how long this ‘hype’ will go on for or how long Penrose will last? Everything has its mortality. Enjoy it, ride the wave. And you look back maybe five, ten, 15 years from now, you know that, ‘Okay, you gave everything, you’ve got no regrets.’
Compared to when you first started in this industry, would you have ever anticipated where it would be today?
I mean, not so quickly. (laughs) You know, I’ve been in this industry for about 14 years now. Next year, it will be 14. So, I’ve seen things come and go, and you know, I think most people see just these two years, but I’ve seen the 12 years behind that. And now two years in, I wouldn’t say… I wasn’t ‘expecting’ any recognition. But again, it’s very heartwarming to know that when you do open something, and you open it because you like something and it’s through your heart, and then it translates over to someone else enjoying it… it’s a good indicator that maybe what you’re doing is right. Because sometimes if you like something and most people don’t like it, it’s like, ‘Do I change? Do I be stubborn and have a bit of, you know, principles and stick to it?’ I think it’s a very hard question to ask. But yeah, just go around, try everything, do everything, and just realise what you like, remove what you don’t, try to refine that and see what sticks. It’s ever-changing.
Yeah, it is ever-changing. And I guess, yeah, with how fast things are going, I know you’re like enjoying the ride right now, but it has also been quite overwhelming, would you say?
Yeah. I haven’t had an off day in two and a half years. It’s great. Yeah, it’s great! (laughs)
So you’d say you are the kind of person who functions like that?
In a way, yeah. I mean, fueled by trauma, you know? (laughs) Let it serve you. And I think you get better. Like, last year was a bit of a struggle because everything was quite new. And burnout is a real thing, you know. Especially mental health… it’s a very open topic in this industry. Now, of course I have days where it’s just very overwhelming. But I think taking a day off and not doing anything or taking a week off for a holiday does not really equate to rest. I think rest is very intentional. You can’t go to sleep. Sleep happens to you. I try to rest as well with my team as best as we can. Maybe it’s just, like, a day — not really an off day — how do you recover fast? You know, it’s very intentional. Everything works differently for everyone else. You have to be quite intentional in terms of how you plan your rest. I mean, everyone’s planning on expanding business and all that, but I don’t think enough people plan rest. You don’t need a week off. You just need a proper… day and a half, two days, intentional. It is tiring, because you’ve gotta make sure everything’s tip top. Everybody finds their own way to work around it. Only you know your body.
Since you’ve been travelling around a lot lately, what have you noticed in terms of trends in bartending lately, especially this past year — are there any changes from when you first started, would you say?
I think with trends, right now most people are going towards more ‘clean’ style cocktails, very kind of minimal in their garnishes. But then again, in restaurants, you’ve got categories, you know? Omakase, dining station, hawker centres, all this kind of stuff. I think bars also have their categories. I would say, like, JungleBird is a rum bar. If you don’t like rum, it’s not the place to go to. Reka:Bar’s a bit more experimental, they’re a bit more ‘wild’ with their flavours. If you like something experimental, more natural, more sustainable, then you head there. Penrose is more classic, elevated, ‘clean’. So I think when it comes to trends, it really also depends on the nature and the category of that bar. And you’ve just gotta stick to what category you want to maintain and to be known for as a brand identity, so that your guests kind of have a better understanding of what to expect when they come back for a second, third, fourth, fifth time.
If I were to change my menu every time based on trends, it would be very inconsistent and unfair to the guests. I mean, it might kind of boost it up a bit more with new people coming in, but it might not last long. So, we’ve stuck to the same principles of working. We make drinks very intentionally, we work with flavours that are relatable to the palate, even if you don’t necessarily know that, you know, tamarind, tonka bean, banana and sherry work together for example. We work in that linear way of flavour-driven drinks versus something a bit more experimental. And I think the guests in the last two years have seen that consistency. Even in our seasonal menus, if we use strawberries, we’ll work with ingredients that enunciate more flavours of strawberries, et cetera. So when it comes to trends, I think trends come and go. As they say, you know, what’s the saying? Fashion always changes, but style is forever. It’s something unique to an individual. So, find your style.
What’s next for you in 2025, professionally and personally?
I think at this point, I’ll just let things happen and I’ll make decisions along the way. I think in the planning phases, you have a lot of things. Almost everyone who started something in their lives knows this, like even if you are 10 years old selling cookies and lemonade, maybe the lemonades do better than your cookies. He’s gotta kind of wing it, right? I think once you reach a point where there are a lot of things happening, you’ve just gotta start making decisions and choosing things instead of trying to restructure that part into something that you know is impossible. Like, “No, this is my way.” I think adaptability is very important to also understand where the guests, the brands, all these people who have supported us, expect us to be. And you’ve just gotta see a little bit, social cues of where they would like this to go. Then, we just kind of follow that same style, but kind of refine it in a more intentional way, I guess.
How has the opening of the new bar been? Is it any different preparing for it compared to Penrose?
I mean, when you first open the bar, it’s really exciting, you have all these plans and dreams. And going back to what I just said, with this bar right now, you can kind of anticipate what’s gonna happen. Not in terms of how successful it’s gonna be, but how you think it’s gonna ‘feel’, you know? And I think feeling is a very important aspect in the drinking environment. I’ve said before, drinking is a very emotional activity. The more you drink, the more you wanna meet people, the more open you are. And then it’s a very slippery slope to like, “Oh, I’ve had too much. Let’s not drink for a month.” (laughs) So it’s a fine balance of, you know, maintaining that very nice emotional lubricant, social lubricant, and then maintaining that. And if you wanna be a good drinker, you’ve just gotta drink every day. But in controlled amounts, of course. (laughs)
