Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sky-high tasting menu, Michelin-backed, date-night format.
Molina holds a Michelin One Star (2024) and sits on Level 51 of THE FACE Style tower, offering a seven to nine course tasting menu built on French technique, Nordic restraint, and Asian ingredients. At $$$$ and with limited covers across five evenings a week, this is a hard reservation — book four to six weeks out. Counter seating, where available, is the way to get the most from the three-hour format.
If you are planning your first visit to Molina, the single most useful piece of advice is this: when you make your reservation, ask specifically about counter seating. Level 51 of THE FACE Style tower on Jalan Sultan Ismail puts you high above the Kuala Lumpur skyline, and the spatial experience of that room — the way the city grid spreads out beyond the glass while a small kitchen team works in your eyeline — changes the meal in a way that a standard table does not. For a tasting menu that runs roughly three hours across seven to nine courses, being able to watch the pacing and preparation of each course adds a layer of engagement that justifies the $$$$ price tier on its own terms.
Molina earned a Michelin One Star in 2024, which immediately places it in a short list of KL restaurants where the technical execution has been independently verified. That credential matters here because Chef Sidney Schutte's format , French classical technique filtered through Nordic minimalism and grounded with Malaysian and broader Asian ingredients , is not the kind of cooking that photographs obviously well or sells itself on a single signature dish. What the Michelin recognition signals is consistency: the kind of kitchen discipline that makes a three-hour tasting menu feel purposeful rather than laborious. Seafood and vegetables anchor the menu, and the progression reportedly closes with a carrot dessert that has become a point of reference for the kitchen's approach: something familiar in ingredient, unexpected in treatment, technically precise in execution.
The spatial experience at Molina deserves more attention than it usually gets. Arriving at Level 51, you are above the immediate noise of the Bukit Bintang and KLCC corridor. The room is not a terrace or a sky bar , it is a proper restaurant that happens to sit inside one of KL's better skyline vantage points. For a first-timer, the practical implication is: arrive with enough time before your reservation to take in the room before service begins, because once the menu is underway, the pace is structured and you will be tracking courses rather than views. Dinner here runs from 6 PM Tuesday through Saturday, with no service on Sunday or Monday, so the booking window is tighter than it appears on paper.
On booking difficulty: treat this as hard. A Michelin-starred tasting-only restaurant operating five evenings a week with a multi-hour menu format has limited covers per service. The 4.3 Google rating across 57 reviews reflects a small regular audience rather than high-volume foot traffic, which tells you that Molina is not drawing casual walk-ins , it is a destination reservation. Book as far in advance as you can, ideally four to six weeks out, and treat any shorter window as a long shot unless you are flexible on day of the week. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are your leading bet for availability if you have a date-sensitive occasion.
For the first-timer specifically, the three-hour menu format is something to plan around rather than simply accommodate. This is not a restaurant where you arrive, eat, and leave in ninety minutes. The evening is the occasion. That framing makes Molina a strong call for a significant dinner , an anniversary, a milestone, a client dinner where the setting and pacing do some of the conversational work for you. The skyline view handles the atmosphere; the menu handles the substance; and the counter, if you can get it, handles the engagement. Those three elements together are what make the $$$$ spend defensible against other options at the same price tier in KL.
Among KL's innovative and fine-dining restaurants, Molina sits in a distinct position: it is the only venue in this tier currently operating with a European chef whose reference points are French and Nordic rather than Malaysian or Chinese. That is not inherently better or worse than what Dewakan does with Malaysian terroir, or what Ling Long does with Chinese-European crossover cooking. But it means the flavour logic and the menu architecture will feel different, and for a diner who has already worked through KL's Malaysian-rooted tasting menus, Molina offers a genuinely different frame of reference. Compare it also to innovative tasting menus in other Asian cities , alla prima in Seoul or Soigné in Seoul , and Molina's European-in-Asia positioning is a recurring format that works when the kitchen has the technical depth to sustain it. The Michelin star suggests it does.
Practical logistics worth knowing before you go: the address is Level 51, THE FACE Style, 1020 Jalan Sultan Ismail. Valet or rideshare is the practical approach given the tower's urban position. No phone or website is listed in current public records, so your booking route is likely through the hotel concierge at THE FACE Style or via a third-party reservation platform. Confirm your booking method before assuming online availability. Dress code is not formally published, but at this price tier and venue type in KL, smart casual is the floor , treat it as you would any Michelin-starred dinner and you will not be out of place. If you are building a broader KL itinerary around this dinner, our full Kuala Lumpur restaurants guide covers the wider field, and our Kuala Lumpur hotels guide can help you place your accommodation relative to the Jalan Sultan Ismail area. For pre- or post-dinner options, the KL bars guide and experiences guide are worth a look.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Molina | Innovative | $$$$ | Perched atop a skyscraper, the restaurant affords panoramic vistas of KL's skyline. Chef Sidney Schutte hails from the southern shores of the Netherlands. His menu is a delectable amalgam of French techniques, Nordic sensibility and Asian twists; seafood and vegetables are his strong suits. His dessert is the final bow, imparting depth and sweetness. With a menu spanning 3 hours, it's the perfect setup for a date.; Perched atop a skyscraper, the restaurant affords panoramic vistas of KL's skyline. Chef Sidney Schutte hails from the southern shores of the Netherlands. His seven- to nine-course menu is a delectable amalgam of French techniques, Nordic sensibility and Asian twists; seafood and vegetables are his strong suits. His carrot dessert is the final bow, imparting depth and sweetness. With a menu spanning 3 hours, it's the perfect setup for a date.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| Dewakan | Malaysian | $$$$ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Beta | Malaysian | $$$ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| DC. by Darren Chin | French Contemporary | $$$$ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Ah Hei Bak Kut Teh | Malaysian | $ | Unknown | — | |
| Aliyaa | Sri Lankan | $$ | Unknown | — |
How Molina stacks up against the competition.
Dress to match the setting: Molina sits on Level 51 with panoramic KL skyline views, holds a Michelin star, and runs a $$$$, three-hour tasting menu. Smart formal or cocktail attire is appropriate. Showing up in casual wear will feel out of place given the format and price point.
Book at least three to four weeks ahead, particularly for weekends — Molina opens Tuesday through Saturday evenings only, which tightens availability considerably. Closed Monday and Sunday means there are just five service windows per week, so popular dates fill fast. Confirm any dietary needs at the time of booking.
Seafood and vegetables are the kitchen's stated strong suits, which works in favour of pescatarians and plant-forward diners. For specific allergies or restrictions, flag these at reservation — a seven-to-nine-course tasting format requires advance notice to adjust. Arriving without flagging restrictions at a $$$$-tier tasting restaurant is a risk not worth taking.
Dinner only. Molina does not offer lunch service — all sittings are 6 PM to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday. The skyline views over KL at night are a direct part of the experience, so the dinner-only format is a feature, not a limitation.
At $$$$, Molina earns its Michelin star: Chef Sidney Schutte's seven-to-nine-course format combining French technique with Nordic and Asian influence is a coherent proposition, not a gimmick. The Level 51 setting adds genuine context to the price. If you want a serious tasting menu in KL with an established credential behind it, Molina justifies the spend. If you want à la carte flexibility or a shorter evening, look elsewhere.
Dewakan is the closest peer — Malaysian-ingredient-led tasting menus with its own critical recognition, and a strong alternative if you want a locally-rooted perspective rather than a European-trained chef working Asian ingredients. DC. by Darren Chin covers French fine dining at a comparable price tier. Beta sits at a lower price point but offers serious modern Malaysian cooking for diners less committed to the $$$$-level spend.
Yes, and it is one of KL's cleaner fits for the format: a three-hour, multi-course dinner on the 51st floor with Michelin backing covers the brief for an anniversary, milestone birthday, or client dinner where the setting needs to carry weight. The tasting-menu-only structure means the evening has a natural arc rather than requiring decisions mid-meal, which suits occasions where the focus should be on the guests, not the menu.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
