S.Wine, Ben's Independent Grocer, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
Lot No. 1a, 83-95, Level UG1, Publika, No. 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas 50480 Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Opening Hours:
Daily, 11am - 10pm

Time Visited:
6:30pm, Valentine's Day - Sunday evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Pan-Roasted Pork Chop with Spinach and Elderflower with Soda Water

Valentine's Day - forgot all about it until I came here for dinner.

I was out the whole day and were visiting around the whole of town for places to eat and when dinnertime arrive, I decided to come to S.Wine for dinner. It was still early, around 6:30pm but the place was already packed with people and that's when I'm reminded that it's Valentine's Day. Having lined up uniformly were rows and columns of 2 seater table and chairs where ample spaces in between to walk in between rows of the arrangement whereas for the tables side by side, that left off wanting a little more space to be desired. Oftentimes, I see people wanting the corner seat next to the wall instead of having people beside you left and right. I guess it's because it offers more privacy that way. So there I was although quite early for dinner yet there's already a place full of couples occupying the restaurant. Good thing for me is that they still manage a place for me.

Staffs of the place were very friendly and very attentive to customers needs and even though I'm just a party of one on Valentine's Day yet they still serve me without any biasness. I decided upon the pork chop along with Elerflower with soda water for drinks. As the name gives it away, S.Wine is a place where they sell pork and is much known for mostly it's pork dishes. That's why it's strategically located in the pork meat produce section of the supermarket. A full fledged open kitchen can be seen cooking away the various meat dishes to satisfy the hungry diners.

Judging from the crowd and my observation, this place is quite a romantic place to dine in with it's mood-setting lighting and it's incandescent bulbs. The only problem with the atmosphere is the many people packed in there. But then again, there's no way to solve this issue because the place don't leave much to arrange the tables and chairs. To me, I felt that they've already maximized it as best as they can. Other than that, that's the gist of the romantic settings, that and along with the fancy dinner.

The Elderflower with Soda Water took a moderate waiting period until it arrived. It tasted Indian-ish in taste due to the Elderflower but other than that, it's mostly sweetness and bubbliness from the soda water which didn't make this drink any more unique. The Pork Chop took it's time to arrive to me but having it cooked to order, it's understandable. The Pork Chop was well cooked but proved to be a little tough to me. They purposely left some layer of fat at the side so that it gives off a melting buttery taste to the side. The taste was well produced and it goes well with the cream sauce that's generously spread below the pork chop. It's mentioned in the menu that the cream sauce contains white wine and seeded mustard which probably contributed a little to elevate the flavors. Aside from that, the pork chop hides a slab of spinach and sauerkraut which interestingly is to my pleasure. I normally don't like sauerkraut due to it's very sourish taste like kimchi but this sauerkraut was not that way. It gave off a bit of a sourish taste but not very overpowering. In fact, I can taste the spinach as much taste as the rest in that mixture. The sauerkraut in fact tasted more like cabbage than sauerkraut due to the mild taste of sourness instead of the strong type. There's also hints of bacon in the mash mixture which I failed to detect if I didn't look at the menu.

All in all, a satisfying meal, an excellent service rendered from the staff despite running at full capacity of the restaurant, nice ambiance, the only thing that could be better is space-wise. But then again, they've already maximized the space of the restaurant and so I couldn't think of how they could further improve on that.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM48. RM38 for the pork chop and RM10 for the drink. 6% GST taxable.

Final Verdict:
7/10.