Soiree of Great Wine & Tapas
Wine
bars are few in our culinary shores but they are beginning to mushrooms lately
in various spots in our city. Newest kid on the block in Taman Danau Desa is Gallo Wine Bar. The heavily packed
business area now has a gorgeous place for wine lovers to enjoy their wines.
Under
the same group that operates Fuzio
Italian Bar & Restaurant and The
Monkey Bar, Gallo Wine Bar is
the latest offspring serving a solid selections of imported wines as well as
tapas. From wine enthusiast to cigar connoisseurs, Gallo Wine Bar is the place
to ultimately end your day with great wines, cigars and tapas. With a current
wine list of over 100 labels, Gallo targets to increase more labels by
April.
Located
on the first level above The Monkey Bar, Gallo
Wine Bar is gorgeous at sight. Expect classy and elegant ambiance. The
whole level is set with warm low lights, setting a cosy and inviting ambiance
to unwind with delectable wines and good food. Jazz music plays softly in the
background.
Lots
of leather sofas, low tables, a wine rack room, lots of art pieces, dark
textured wall panels and mirrored ceiling summed up the décor at Gallo. We love how the room are well
sectioned to offer more privacy. There is private rooms that can easily be
sectioned off for private functions. There are 2 smoking areas and 1
non-smoking area. While we were there, we could barely catch much whiff of
smoke as it is well ventilated.
Gallo
Wine Bar is currently offering Wine of the Month promotion with Litoral Leyda Valley Pinot Noir 2012.
It’s Chile meet Burgundy for this beautiful red. We were given a wine
appreciation class briefly on how to best enjoy wines with various wine glasses
being used on the same wine. From that short lesson, we learnt that the same
wine tasted different in the boudoir glass compared to the burgundy glass.
Our
pinot noir in the boudoir glass had smoother and softer tasting notes while the
burgundy glass showed off the pinot noir’s tannin better. The characteristics
are well-defined with better tannins, fruity berries with very slight finish of
salty note. This red goes well with white meat dishes and is also lovely with
Chinese cuisine as we are told.
From
now till end of March, wine lovers can enjoy this Chilean pinot noir for
RM230++ a bottle compared to its regular price of RM310++. Order two bottles
for only RM400++.
As
it is a wine bar, the food menu focuses on tapas or small bites to be paired
with the wines. Even with small bites, it is quite filling and satisfying as
every tapas is made to order from the open kitchen at the end of the room. The
food menu is not huge but sufficiently satisfying and may change every few
months to introduce new dishes.
We
started off with Cheese Cracker
(RM18), pretty serving of gravity-defying cheese wafers stacked high against
the pieces. Golden parmesan cheese crackers served with fresh crisp apple
slices, strawberries and a honey sauce. The salty moreish flavours of the
cheese goes so well with our wine. Its also beautifully aromatic and added much
delightful flavours to our evening of wines.
Crustacean
lovers will be pleased with Sea Prawn
Yakitori with Pickle Papaya & Lime Zest (RM20). Large deshelled
skewered prawns are grilled with an umami yakitori sauce and served with a
spicy pickled papaya that packed quite a heat punch!
Somethings
are better in threes, The Mushroom
Threesome (RM18) is one of them. Menu reads Portobello mushroom, button mushroom,
Eringi mushroom, duck bacon and onion rings. Lots of flavours and textures on
this platter. Chargrilled smoky Portobello and Eringi with crispy deep fried
button mushrooms makes such delightful bites with wine. That duck bacon is
divine too!
Can’t
go wrong with meatballs, especially when it’s moist and tasty. The Lambor-Guinness (RM18) is sure
crowd-pleaser. Succulent lamb meatballs wrapped with duck bacon and cooked in
sticky sweet and savory Guinness laced sauce with sweet soft onions are made
even better with crusty garlic bread. Super yum…
Mantau Slider in Selection of Beef
Brisket Asian Slaw
(RM25) and Mantau Slider in Selection of
Smoked Salmon Cream (RM12) are more filling tapas to ponder.
Slow
cooked beef brisket with mango salad sandwiched with deep fried Mantau buns are
quite the sinful treat. A tad oily from the buns but the overall sliders are
tasty and delectable. I would love to have a bit of a heat to kick up this
slider to another few notches…
There’s
also the salmon version of Mantau Slider
in Selection of Smoked Salmon Cream if you’re not a beef eater.
The Grown Up Mac n Cheese (RM35) proves that us grown up have
it better when it comes to food. Luscious mac and cheese made better with rich
tomatoey duck Bolognese, jack cheese and mozzarella. Crowned with yummy grilled
duck sausage and rocket leaves, this is one mac and cheese you don’t want to
miss. What a treat! We couldn’t stop digging into this ooey-gooey cheesy pasta
with gusto.
Thin
crust pizza is also served here. We can’t decide which one we like better – the
Mushroom Pizza (RM15) or Anchovies Pizza (RM15). Both are
equally satisfying in flavours. The Mushroom Pizza has aromatic truffle oil
with lots of mushrooms and cheese while the Anchovies Pizza proves that salty
moreish anchovies are great on pizza with capers, cheese and rocket leaves.
Desserts
are not the norm at Gallo Wine Bar.
If you enjoy cheese with wine, then the Brie
Cheese (RM16) can be a showstopper. Brie cheese baked till soft, served on
hot cast iron pan with fresh berries, walnuts, toasted bread and cranberry
sauce. Watch the whole dish sizzle when the sauce is poured on the cheese.
Scoop up the brie on toast with bits of all the berries and nut and you’ll be
awarded with a savory and sweet dessert unlike any other sweet endings.
Reasons
to visit? Wine appreciation and great tapas set in a stylish ambiance to unwind
for the evening. There should be more of Gallo
Wine Bar around our city… here’s to working hard and enjoying life with
great wines and good food!
GALLO
WINE BAR
5-1-1, Jalan 3/109F,
Taman Danau Desa,
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 7971 9005
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pg/winebar.gallo
Business Hours:
Mon to Sun 4pm to 2am
