The Astrid (Photo: St Regis KL)
By now, you would have watched Henry Golding on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon many times more than the film’s trailer, and Insta-stalked the gorgeous cast. But the travel junkie in us found the film locations far more crush-worthy.
The Jon Chu-directed film, based on best-selling book of the same name by Kevin Kwan, painted Singapore like a glorious escapade, filled with fancy sights to see including the infinity pool of Marina Bay Sands towers, the futuristic urban park Gardens by the Bay and the opulent Raffles Hotel. Malaysia also played host to the cast, featuring at least seven destinations such as Carcosa Seri Negara, Cameron Highlands, Penang’s Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion and Four Seasons Resort Langkawi.
We won’t go into the details (because the Internet has very generously summarised it for us, complete with pictures and screenshots from the trailer) but there could be one more location most websites have missed out: The Astor Bar at St Regis Kuala Lumpur. It was transformed into a luxurious jewellery store where Gemma Chan’s character Astrid Teo, also referred to as “The Goddess”, was introduced.
The bar’s custom-made gold wine cellar fridges were converted into jewellery display cases for the scene. Known for its modern-day glamour with old-world elegance, Astor Bar, decked out with a breathtaking gold domed-ceiling and richly detailed interior, instantly makes a convincing shoot location.
Not all of us can live like a crazy rich Asian but we can certainly drink like one. In celebration of its appearance in the film, The Astor Bar introduces “The Astrid”, a limited-edition cocktail concocted from Jose Cuervo silver tequila, pomegranate juice, lemon bitter and elderflower foam.
The much-anticipated romcom signals a major step forward for representation in Hollywood and the film industry as it’s the first modern story with an all-Asian cast and an Asian-American lead in 25 years; the last being The Joy Luck Club in 1993. Catch Crazy Rich Asians in local cinemas starting Aug 22.
