ITB December 2024/January 2025 - Magazine - Page 44
ONE PIECE OF ADVICE
“If you have an adventurous spirit
with business, just do it, because
you only live once. Go and achieve
your dreams.”
MEMBER PROFILE
HOW IT STARTED
Trips in 2017 and 2018 to Cuba — a destination she
describes as “heaven for cocktails” — convinced Lim
to bring the flavours of Havana to Malaysia, as well
as locally inspired cocktails.
Since 2019, she has run Archipelago Penang,
a hidden courtyard cocktail bar that sits out the back
of an adjoined little antique shop in Armenian Street,
part of a vibrant arts and hospitality precinct in
George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Inspired by the cocktail scene and vibe of Old
Havana, Archipelago offers a serene site for locals
and travellers who want to have a quiet drink
and connect with friends and family. Featured in
publications such as The New York Times, Monocle
in London and Malaysia’s The Yum List, the bar is
proving especially trendy among travellers who
appreciate an old-school approach of using fresh fruit
ingredients for cocktails, rather than flavoured syrups.
“That’s been very popular,” Lim says. “Nowadays,
not many cocktail bars maintain the [traditional] way
of preparing cocktails due to cost and time factors,
but we still prefer it this way.”
On an extensive drinks list, popular items include
the Jungle Bird of Paradise featuring dark rum,
pineapple juice and Campari; a Cuban-inspired
daiquiri with dark rum and pineapple and orange
juice; the Aki, named after a fictional female ninja
agent in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice;
and a George Town Mule that is made with ginger
grown on nearby hills.
The bar’s drinks draw liberally from local produce
and spices.
CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME
Running the cocktail bar has not always been smooth
sailing for Lim. After opening its doors in late 2019,
the first pandemic lockdown came just months later,
44 INTHEBLACK Dec 2024/Jan 2025 SPECIAL EDITION
and the bar could not reopen until late 2021. “Even
then, that was only for the Malaysia border-crossing
travellers, and our international border in Malaysia
did not reopen until about April 2022,” Lim explains.
Such a long closure undoubtedly threatened the
survival of the nascent business. However, Lim says
a commitment to quirkiness and quality, and the
popularity of George Town, a city known for its British
colonial buildings and Chinese shophouses, have
helped Archipelago capture travellers and maintain
a local clientele that has anchored its post-pandemic
rebound. “It’s been a great journey,” Lim says.
The pandemic aside, Lim says one of the biggest
tests for the business has been a dilemma that afflicts
many modern enterprises — recruiting and keeping
staff. “That’s the most difficult part.”
