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