Sanctuary 38 - This Bar In KL Turns Childhood Desserts Into Cocktails

Two floors below a community church in Desa Sri Hartamas, Sanctuary 38 builds its menu around a format few Malaysian bars attempt: alcoholic desserts. Sago gula Melaka, tau fu fah, and herbal jelly are rebuilt as drinks, with spiced rum, coconut liqueur, and house-infused gin standing in where syrup and evaporated milk should be. The bar is the second venue from Jason Julian, named in the Top 10 for Bartender of the Year at The Bar Awards Kuala Lumpur and Penang 2019, who also runs Soma Cocktail Bar in TTDI. There is no kitchen — guests bring their own food or order from neighbouring outlets — which leaves the dessert list to carry the menu. Here's what to try here.

Sago Gula Melaka

The dessert that Sanctuary 38 is most known for keeps the OG build almost intact. Sago pearls sit beneath coconut milk and palm sugar — the same three components that define the kampung version — with coconut liqueur and spiced rum folded through and pandan carrying the aroma. The palm sugar sweetens the drink rather than garnishing it, so it runs dark and thick. It is served in a glass and eaten with a spoon, closer in texture to the dessert than to a cocktail.

Pandan Tau Fu Fah

The beancurd is made in-house — a detail that separates this from most bar desserts in the city. Pandan is worked into the curd itself, and the finished bowl is dressed with dark rum and a choice of palm sugar or muscovado syrup, the same syrup decision a tau fu fah hawker offers, with the spirit added on top. The curd is set soft, and the rum runs through it rather than sitting on the surface.

Ai Yu Jelly

This one takes the Taiwanese route. Ai yu jelly, set from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig, forms the base, and the bar builds around it with spiced rum and sour plum gin. Nutmeg syrup brings a spicy note, while lychee and sea coconut are added as the solid elements. The sour plum links back to the Malaysian palate, echoing the asam boi flavouring found in local drinks.

Herbal Jelly with Tan Ngan Lo Syrup

Cincau in its bitter, medicinal form. The jelly is paired with Tan Ngan Lo syrup — the concentrate from the long-running Malaysian herbal tea brand — and lifted with a gin infused with chrysanthemum and liquorice. The combination keeps the herbal register of the original, with the chrysanthemum doing what it does in a herbal tea shop and the liquorice extending the finish.

Petai Grasshopper Ice Cream

The bar's most unusual item puts petai — the stink bean — into a dessert. The reference is the Grasshopper, the mint and crème de menthe classic, and Sanctuary 38 keeps the mint and melon liqueur while using petai and apple syrup to redirect it. Petai is an ingredient normally confined to sambal and fried rice, and its appearance in an ice cream drink is a genuine one-off on Kuala Lumpur bar menus.

Spirits of Borneo

Tuak, the fermented rice wine of Sarawak and Sabah, rarely leaves East Malaysia and rarely appears in a cocktail glass when it does. Here it is combined with vodka, orange juice, lemon, and vanilla, with sour plum added to sharpen the finish. The tuak supplies the rice-fermentation base note that ordinarily sits behind a longhouse pour, and the citrus opens it up for a bar setting.

Peanut Butter

Built as a flip, this one uses actual peanut butter rather than a nut syrup, shaken with hazelnut liqueur, milk, vanilla, and egg whites. The egg white gives the drink its body and the grated nutmeg finishes it in the manner of a classic flip. The peanut butter is what makes it read as dessert rather than nightcap, and it appears frequently in reviews alongside the sago.

Winter Dew

Sake carries this one rather than a Western spirit. It is infused with honeydew before service, then lengthened with melon liqueur, honey, and lemon. The double use of melon — fresh infusion and liqueur — gives the drink its depth, and the honey keeps the sweetness rounded rather than sharp. It sits at the lighter end of a list otherwise dominated by rum and palm sugar.

Sanctuary 38 is not a restaurant and does not pretend to be one, but the dessert menu does something no kitchen in the neighbourhood is doing. For anyone who grew up on sago gula melaka and tau fu fah, the list is a chance to meet those flavours again in a different form. The bar is also pet-friendly, has a balcony patio, and runs a soul and R&B soundtrack on weekday nights, making it one of the more distinctive spots for a long, unhurried evening.

Address: 38-1, Jalan 27/70a, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 5:00pm – 12:00am; Friday and Saturday, 5:00pm – 1:00am
Tel: +60 11-2973 1938
Instagram: @sanctuary.38