Gallo Wine Bar @ Taman Danau Desa

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

The Roof, First Avenue: Hard Hat Tour of Asia’s First and Only Helipad Lounge, The Roof!

The Roof Opens for Boarding!

The latest buzz in town has everyone asking about The Roof at First Avenue in Bandar Utama. If you are not already on the exclusive guest list of the launch of the largest premium integrated dining and entertainment hub with a helipad lounge of 2013 in Malaysia, you need to be!

Set to offer many with the ultimate experience in dining and entertainment, The Roof comprises of an integrated concepts that features 5 outlets – Stratosphere, Signature, Malt & Leaf, Score and Play. Every one of the outlets is truly unique and we got to take a ‘Hard Hat Tour’ recently. Flooded by members of the media, bloggers, celebrities and distinguished guests, everyone congregated at Score for the event to be launched.

A quick summary about The Roof, it was designed under the proficient stewardship of the country’s premier drivers in entertainment, The Group (F&B) Sdn. Bhd. (The Group), in partnership with property developer First Nationwide Group under the umbrella of See Hoy Chan Holdings. The event took off with a welcoming speech by Director of The Group, Dax Lee.

“We are always looking for avenues to reinvent the dining and entertainment experience for the young at heart – both international and local clientele. We want customers to have upscale service, excellent food and creative presentations. We built The Roof to become the epitome of Kuala Lumpur’s premium dining and entertainment scene that offers the ultimate lifestyle experience.” said, Director of The Group, Dax Lee.

With our hard hats on, various groups took turn to check out the 5 concepts of The Roof. Each one hosted by notable personalities to give insights of the concepts. Though some are still work in progress, there is an element of excitement to see the final concepts when it opens this November.

SCORE

Its all about sports! Presented by Peter Davis, Score features an exciting sports bar set to let sports fans and wannabes cheer on as they hang out for some casual unpretentious fun. Major sporting events and live telecasts broadcasted on the huge screen set behind its neon lite bar will definitely score points with many. Other highlights include pool competitions and dart tournaments. With a capacity of 150pax, Score is set to let your adrenaline roll as you cheers on your games with plenty of beer and finger food.

So bring on your camaraderie spirits and let the games begin!

MALT & LEAF

A hang out for cigar and single malt aficionados, Malt & Leaf’s extensive list of international malts and tobacco coupled with its amazing view of the city is guaranteed to please. Hosting us for Malt & Leaf is Carl Graham, who explained that this bar is set to be equipped with a walk-in glass cigar cabinet filled with well curated selections of the finest cigars and a menu of exquisite single malts. Malt & Leaf’s bird eye view is perfect for the evening’s sunsets and night lights!

PLAY

Miss Malaysia 2010, Nadine Ann Thomas played host to the designer supper club, Play. Doubles as a premium dance club with local and international DJs, it’s the largest dance club in Petaling Jaya. Looking for a place to dance your troubles away, Play is perfect for you. Set with state-of-the-art staging, audio and visuals plus a patio view of the city, it would be hard not to play here!

Psst.. Lil John and DJ Tenasha are already set to rock this place in November…

SIGNATURE

Gourmands will be pleased at Signature by The Hill, a gastro-lounge serving award-winning signature cocktails and plethora of Asian and international fusion cuisine. The contemporary restaurant cum bar cum lounge offers more in the gastronomic experience as gourmands can look forward to special cooking classes, sumptuous weekend brunches and wine pairing dinners. The 350pax Signature oozes with class and offers more than what meets the eye. It will be a truly unforgettable dining experience at Signature as presented by Cay Kuijpers.

STRASTOSPHERE

Saving the best for last, we all braved the stairs leading up to Stratosphere. Truly mesmerizing, Stratosphere features an opulent rooftop bar with a magnificent 360 degree view of the greater Klang Valley.

Boasting Asia’s first and only green helipad bar, the circle roof top features neon lite bar, live DJ booth, plush white and navy sofas, grassed and white pathways, Stratosphere is definitely the place to be seen and heard.

Ingeniously design to let the sky and the city view dictate the ambience, one can simply unwind and entertain with much pleasures. Stratosphere offers exquisite drink list and scrumptious canapés.

At Stratosphere, watch the sun set or set the mood for a little romance!

A perfect backdrop for niche events, weddings, fashion shows and product launches, the sky’s the limit for Stratosphere!

*picture credits to Issac Tan

The great news is that the launch of The Roof is only just 2 days away. Snag yourselves an invite by signing up for an exclusive invitation at The Roof’s Facebook page here. You’d never know who you might meet up there…

Experience the Elevation of the Ordinary at The Roof!

THE ROOF

1, First Avenue,

Bandar Utama,

47800 Petaling Jaya

Tel:  603 7729 1628

Website: www.theroof.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheRoofMalaysia

The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur & The Club, Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur Presents The Destined Chef, An Exclusive Dinner by Michelin Star Chef Yuichi Kamimura

A Contemporary Japanese-French Affair!

I finally understood what it takes to receive a Michelin Star! Thanks to a culinary journey set beyond my wildest expectation, The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur & The Club, Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur presents The Destined Chef, Chef Yuichi Kamimura. From 24^th to 26^th October, Michelin Star Chef Yuichi Kamimura will be showcasing his contemporary Japanese-French inspired cuisine at the following dates at both The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur & The Club, Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur’s restaurants.

No longer a stranger to Malaysia, Chef Kamimura has been invited to showcase his culinary repertoire here before and also in several other Asian countries. Destined to be a chef in footsteps of his family’s bustling restaurant in Hokkaido, Japan, he also had the honors to be taken under the culinary wings of famed Australian Chef Tetsuya Wakuda. After several stints with many prominent chefs from diverse cultures, he has created his own list of degustation menus inspired from Japanese and French cuisines.

Establishing “Kamimura” a restaurant aptly named after him in Sapporo which is now relocated to Niseko, Yuichi has won himself a Michelin star and numerous other accolades and praises for his culinary skills and ability to transform traditional cuisine to a contemporary winner with immaculate presentation simply living by the philosophy of making his customers happy. In person, he is absolutely down-to-earth as he would smile a lot and appeased us by our serious interrogations of his creations that night. His current restaurant only seats 40 as he is extremely set on serving the very best to his customers.

Let our culinary journey begin with The Suntory Night Set Dinner held at Kogetsu Japanese Restaurant. The exclusive degustation dinner is paired with 6 Suntory ranges of beer, shochu and whisky. The Suntory Group in Japan consists of many products and services in the Food and Beverage industry. Our dinner that evening showcased a beer, a shochu and 4 whiskeys from the range of Suntory products. As always in most pairings, we started slowly from the basics leading up to the premium and exclusive liqueurs.

It was undyingly beautifully presented. A large white canvas held the base for every of his dishes. Our first temptation of Botan Ebi King Prawn with Tomato Powder arrived like a modern artwork. Covered in a snow of white and pale golden hue powder, a sumptuous Botan Ebi king prawn lies beneath. Hardly blanched, the king prawns was unctuously sweet, firm and filled with glorious oceanic brine in tasting notes. Sitting further beneath the crustacean, a medley of finely minced broccoli with nuts accompanied the prawns to give it a boost of textures and flavors. Though I can barely taste much of the molecular gastronomy inspired tomato powder flavors in this dish, I am not even complaining because every element was just divine. I may ran out of words just describing this dish but who cares, it deserves every bit of my mad raving of this masterpiece!

Our first piece was paired with Suntory Premium Malt, a beer made using 100% natural water drawn from the underground deep wells of Japan. A mild start, this malt exudes a light floral aroma with a refreshing taste and a dry finish.

The next course of Terrine of Foie Gras & Saikyo Miso with Port Wine features a disc of goose liver flavored with creamy nutty Saikyo miso with a crown of chives and cubes of eggplant dressed in port wine sauce. I will be biased in this case as I am an ardent fan of foie gras. It may seem to be a ‘hoity toity’ ingredient to many but I just cannot resist the lustrous flavors of the goose liver. The foie gras disc is extremely rich in flavors from the liver and miso. Intense savory with a smooth nutty note, it is cleverly offset by cubes of eggplant for which I am told that is deep fried before being washed and marinated in dashi broth and chilled. Laced with a rich sweet fruity port wine, the dish has a beautiful finesse in it!

Served with a chilled innocent looking Suntory Shocu  Kuromaru, the flavors speak otherwise. Maybe I am just not familiar with shochu but this Kuromaru Shochu is fairly strong at first taste. Made with a base of sweet potato, it does have a sweet and rounded note and goes on easier after a few sips.

My partner-in-crime next to me boldly said ‘Gimme a big bowl of this dish so I can camp in front of my TV!’  He talks of this like it were mashed potatoes but we all know it takes hours to create Confit of Potato with Black Truffle & Scallop Cream. On the other hand, it’s so good, I do agree that I might want a big bowl of this dish at any time!  French cut yellow and purple potatoes are slowly confit for hours till soft and sits on a pool of thick scallop cream sauce. I can literally taste bits of scallops finely minced in the sauce. The crowning glory of the dish is finely shaved black truffles arousing my senses with its famous earthy and nutty scent. Besides being such a luxury dish, I know why we all wanted a big bowl of this… comfort, pure comfort blish!

Suntory Kakubin mixed with soda water is our third pairing and this is one of my favorite. A wedge of lemon adds depth to the whisky blend. It’s refreshing and really easy to enjoy, perfect to lighten up the heavier potato dish with cream sauce.

Once again, I squealed at this prettily dressed Grilled Fish with Braised Seafood in Tomato! It is such a feminine dish with the micro edible flowers piled up on the fish. The dish reminds me of bouillabaisse, a French seafood stew. Superb crispy fish skin coupled with tender flesh has a nice punch of salty notes while bits of vegetables and seafood sit beneath in a warm light tomato broth.

Suntory Hibiki 12 Years Old was paired with the fish. I read from the Suntory website that Suntory owns three distilleries - Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita in Japan. Hibiki 12 is a whisky blend from all three distilleries and is aged in Ume-Shu casks. On the nose, I can smell wood and caramel. On the palate, I tasted an earthy note and light sweetness with a hint of plums. I prefer this with ice.

When the golden skin Duck Risotto with Mushroom was presented, I could not wait to tuck into the duck. The duck was confit in its own fat till tender and then finished off with a nice sear to crisp up the golden skin. Very moist with deep meaty flavors, the duck is cooked perfectly. The risotto is also exceptionally well done, creamy, al dente and full of earthy and savory flavors from the assorted mushrooms and ham. Now it’s my turn to want a big plate of this delicious duck and risotto!!

Paired with a Suntory signature, the Suntory The Yamazaki 12 Years Old tasted of dried fruits with oak. It has good depth on the mouth and is well rounded too. I also had this with ice since it is quite strong for me on its own.

Our last course ended with Roast Lamb Rack with Wasabi Butter. Two pieces of lean tender lamb is roasted till medium. It’s sidekick of wasabi butter is superbly well balanced, just enough hint of wasabi to entice my nostrils and has a creamy buttery edge. I am so going to make wasabi butter for my meat from now on. A little au jus with brunoise of zucchini and baby kalian completes the ensemble.

This time it was the 2^nd distillery of Hakushi with Suntory The Hakushu 12 Years Old whiskey. I must say that the whiskey paired the best with meat, hence the malty and floral sweetness with a light smoke goes so well with the lamb. I braved this one and had it neat!

Pinch me someone! Dessert ended with a high note with Ice Cream with Pumpkin & Caramelized Nuts. The name did not do justice to the dessert. Let me rephrase it with Ice Cream with Roasted Pumpkin, Ginger Pattisserie Cream, Caramelized Nuts and Caramel sauce. It was so sexy and so sinful, yet it had a warm and inviting feel to the flavors. Creamy, aromatic, luscious and sultry, I definitely want more of this dessert. I actually saw Chef Kamimura assemble this dessert and he was just so meticulous and so precise, even down right to the quenelle of ice cream. This is what passion is all about!

His creations are just mesmerizing in every way. It’s no wonder Chef Kamimura is awarded the Michelin star. It is very well deserved as his Japanese-French inspired dishes are well balanced in flavors and textures with a modern feel. Yet there are very authentic Japanese ingredients used to keep us reminded of his roots. His creations are not to be missed and his passion shows in them. Do check out other his other menus available at both The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur & The Club, Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur  till 26^th Oct as per below.

  

24th – 26th October, Lunch at Kogetsu, The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur – RM180++ per person

24th October, Suntory Night Set Dinner at Kogetsu, The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur – RM300++ per person

25th October, Dinner at The Restaurant, The Club Saujana Resort – RM267 nett per person

26th October, Wine Dinner at Senja, The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur – RM380++ per person

For dining reservations and enquiries call (603) 7843 1234 or email dine@thesaujana.com

The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur 
Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur, 
Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS, 
40150 Shah Alam, Selangor. 
Contact: 603-7843 1234

Email: senja@thesaujana.com

Website: www.thesaujanahotel.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheSaujanaHotelKualaLumpur