Once an iconic cinema back in the day, REXKL is now a rejuvenated cultural and arts community hub with a curated line-up of indie stores and an expansive digital art gallery on the first floor. My friend was the one who recommended this place for its funky, artsy vibes and character. It was indeed a much-needed breath of fresh air from the other run-of-the-mill shopping malls in the vicinity!
A raw, industrial aesthetic runs throughout the building’s spaces, with exposed beams and pipes, as well as an abundant use of concrete and steel structures.
During our visit, there was a “Haze: Coming Soon” activist art exhibition which was free to enter (we just needed to register our details via a QR code). Our attention was caught and our interest piqued when we saw the entrance to the exhibition covered in billowing smoke! It was a small but powerful display that brought together film, visual arts and activism to spread awareness about the problem of haze. Pretty cool!
Next up, we checked out the main highlight of this place, BookXcess. It was fun to explore its winding pathways and seemingly endless shelves of books, almost like the enchanting library from Beauty & The Beast in real life ❤ Just… ten times hotter, as expected in a tropical region. I’d never seen anything like this and I imagine that it’d be such a treat to wander through every nook and cranny if it weren’t so warm and humid.
On the bottom-most level was The Background (now revamped to be called Food Fiction, I believe), a food hall where you can find a variety of sweet and savoury options. My husband ordered a bowl of garlic soy indomee (MYR19.80) from Hijau, which had fragrant, generous garlic bits with every bite. However, the noodles were a little undercooked. I ordered a single beef burger (MYR22) from Alta Cafe. I enjoyed this very much as the buns were buttery and the beef patty was juicy and flavourful.
We also ordered two slices of cake from Stellar’s Cake Room to share. The Boston cream pie (MYR16), apparently their signature, was so dense and unpleasant to chew through. Furthermore, the chocolate ganache seemed to have a hint of almond, a flavour I don’t particularly enjoy. I found the pandan cake (MYR16) way more palatable as it was lighter, although the gluggy consistency that was midway between a jelly and cream made it easy to get sick of after a few mouthfuls. Well, at least both had just the right sweetness.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re looking for a place to visit in Kuala Lumpur that has something different to offer apart from the standard mega malls, this artsy spot is a location you can consider! It was an intriguing experience perusing the activist art exhibition and roaming the aisles of BookXcess, definitely more engaging to me than the usual window shopping (: In terms of F&B options, we only checked out the food hall on the ground floor but there are actually many other cool restaurants and bars on the other levels. With that said, the food prices here were more expensive compared to the shops located in the vicinity for the same fare, so we were more inclined to spend elsewhere instead.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 