To be honest, what got us through the door was the happy hour wine offer: buy one free one at RM25 (3pm to 9pm). So we settled in and ordered the wine on promotion, which was the 2015 Torres Hemisferio sauvignon blanc from Chile. It was a beautiful wine, easy to drink though slightly sweet, has a floral bouquet and a bright citrus acidity. Off to a good start, we looked at the tapas menu and were pleasantly surprised that almost everything was RM18 or less. And that is Bacchus’s strongest suit: affordability.
A restaurant and wine bar, Bacchus has a casual, laidback vibe, complete with a pared down industrial look. It’s helmed by Chef Angie Hiew of Flamenco and Sentidos Tapas fame, two of the city’s earliest Spanish restaurants. While Spanish cooking remains a dominant feature here, you’ll also find a peppering of Italian and Asian influences in the menu. The tapas selection looks to be the most interesting of the lot, but there are also salads (from RM15), pastas (from RM22), and meaty mains (from RM58).
Our first tapas order, the salmon namasake with wasabi mayo, was decent (the fish was fresh and in thick cuts). The two tapas that came next fared much better. The poached egg pesto was good and the execution clever; the creaminess of the runny yolk matched the soft shaved cheese, but the herby pesto sauce came to the fore to cut through the richness.
The braised smoked pork belly was touted as the restaurant’s signature dish and we can see why. The meat, with fat that turned creamy, was rendered soft in the richly flavoured yet light broth. The vegetables in the dish made great accompaniment; the carrots were sweet and cooked through until soft, the broccoli still crunchy, and the cherry tomatoes tart. For something more filling, we ordered the linguine with chorizo, king mushrooms and broccoli in a cream sauce. What really stood out was the addition of tomato to lend some brightness to keep the creaminess of the sauce in check.
With Bacchus being a wine bar, the huge selection of wines here spans both Old and New Worlds. While some fine vintages cost almost RM900 a bottle, there are still many choices hovering around the RM100 to RM200 mark. You can even get a bottle of the house white (an Australian sauvignon blanc) at RM75 a bottle, or RM18 a glass. And that pretty much sums up what Bacchus is: A casual wine bar and restaurant with simple, straightforward food which you can share with your friends over wines, all without breaking the bank.