Finally made it to Zén. The last of the Singapore’s 3-tyre-starred restaurants I haven’t tried. As we know, Zén is the Singaporean offshoot of the also 3-starred Frantzén in Sweden. While Zén proudly champions its Nordic DNA, it also adapts to its Asia-Pacific location by incorporating a good selection Japanese produce and augmenting their cuisine with the occasional bold use of pungent Asian flavours like kimchi and citrus-chilli pastes. A very unique and ‘performative’ lunch where they finish the assembly of many courses tableside. I didn’t find it gimmicky at all and it was nice to be able your pose food-nerd questions at those who will in most likelihood out-nerd you. It was overall a fine and entertaining afternoon. However, if you strip away the performance element, the food itself was IMO just serviceable given the 3-star rating. Nothing was gravely wrong, but nothing really stood out either. As we went on to the main courses, it was like waiting for a grand finale that never came. Also, portion sizes were pretty meagre especially compared to their natural 3-star rivals at Odette and considering that bread is not served at Zén (The Menu, anyone?)
Dishes in-depth:
Canapés
– Zén/Frantzén signature: Raraka. Crisp potato cylinder with sour cream and fish roe. Nice, can’t go wrong with this classic combo.
– Crunchy buckwheat blini, aged veal tartare, nori oil, grilled unagi, celery leaves. Brilliant and cohesive bite. Best of the lot.
– Croustade with Australian marron salad, strawberry XO sauce, apples, dried roses.
Plates
– Otoro from Kyushu cured and charcoal-torched; mikan kosho; mikan and tomato juice; cardamon oil; salmon caviar; N25 Schrenkii + Kaluga hybrid caviar. Superb calibration of tart-sweet-salty-spicy in the marinade and condiments. However, the sauce also overwhelmed the great (and I presume very expensive) caviar (I know because I tried half on its own!) that was generously spooned on top. Perhaps I am too basic but I am of the mind that having paid for top-shelf caviar, you would want to taste it in all its pure and minimally-molested glory.
– Chawanmushi, fermented Napa cabbage juice, foie gras, matsutake, white truffle shavings. I really enjoyed how the vegetal tanginess tied up with the earthy elements. A rich truffle aroma envelops the dish but I suspect that was it contributed by a good quality truffle oil and not by the slightly anemic-looking truffle shavings. The foie and mushrooms were miniscule.
– Western Australian Marron, sea buckthorn and saffron bisque, carrot-curry condiment. A supplement course at a rather hefty price. Perfectly pearly and juicy marron but somewhat less tasty and sweet than, say, American lobster. The tartness of sea buckthorn dominated the ‘bisque’. I know this is New Nordic but come on…
– Caramelized onion velouté, crunchy Marcona almonds, liquorice powder. Very good comfort food. You should stir the potent and minty liquorice evenly into the soup before eating.
– (No pic) roasted 5-day aged Kinki fish, Kinki bone broth, shiso oil, Japanese mussel, Lardo di Colonnata, lemongrass sabayon. Fine fish preparation. Kinki fish was grilled to millimeter perfection and had loads of fat.
– 5-week aged and BBQ-ed quail, abats, wasabi, quail sauce with long pepper and vanilla, Amalfi lemon kosho condiment. The star of the show was, believe it or not, that lumpy looking knob of lemon kosho to the side. Zingy and full of cirtusy freshness. I would buy a whole jar in a heartbeat!
– Frantzen ‘French toast’: fried sourdough bread, parmesan cream, 25-year-old Balsamico, *Himalayan* black truffle. I did a double take at the provenance of the truffle. From what I have read prior, Tuber indicum truffles from the Himalayas is a far inferior variety to the mighty European Tuber melanosporum. However, the truffle slices on this toast did look, smell, and taste like the real thing. What’s the deal here? Did someone figure out how to cultivate the melanosporum in China/India/Nepal? Or is the Tuber indicum in fact not as terrible as how traditional truffle merchants make it out to be? I hope it’s the latter!
– Dessert (no pic): Chinese tea mousse, matcha nori powder, sea buckthorn and carrot gelato, nori tuile. This was frankly horrifying. I never want to taste this combination ever again. Not hyperbole to say it might have spoiled my memory of the meal.
BocaTaberu on
Do they still serve the waffles at the end? (didn’t see it mentioned in your menu)
2 Comments
Pics from my IG: [https://www.instagram.com/vinoyvaca/](https://www.instagram.com/vinoyvaca/)
Finally made it to Zén. The last of the Singapore’s 3-tyre-starred restaurants I haven’t tried. As we know, Zén is the Singaporean offshoot of the also 3-starred Frantzén in Sweden. While Zén proudly champions its Nordic DNA, it also adapts to its Asia-Pacific location by incorporating a good selection Japanese produce and augmenting their cuisine with the occasional bold use of pungent Asian flavours like kimchi and citrus-chilli pastes. A very unique and ‘performative’ lunch where they finish the assembly of many courses tableside. I didn’t find it gimmicky at all and it was nice to be able your pose food-nerd questions at those who will in most likelihood out-nerd you. It was overall a fine and entertaining afternoon. However, if you strip away the performance element, the food itself was IMO just serviceable given the 3-star rating. Nothing was gravely wrong, but nothing really stood out either. As we went on to the main courses, it was like waiting for a grand finale that never came. Also, portion sizes were pretty meagre especially compared to their natural 3-star rivals at Odette and considering that bread is not served at Zén (The Menu, anyone?)
Dishes in-depth:
Canapés
– Zén/Frantzén signature: Raraka. Crisp potato cylinder with sour cream and fish roe. Nice, can’t go wrong with this classic combo.
– Crunchy buckwheat blini, aged veal tartare, nori oil, grilled unagi, celery leaves. Brilliant and cohesive bite. Best of the lot.
– Croustade with Australian marron salad, strawberry XO sauce, apples, dried roses.
Plates
– Otoro from Kyushu cured and charcoal-torched; mikan kosho; mikan and tomato juice; cardamon oil; salmon caviar; N25 Schrenkii + Kaluga hybrid caviar. Superb calibration of tart-sweet-salty-spicy in the marinade and condiments. However, the sauce also overwhelmed the great (and I presume very expensive) caviar (I know because I tried half on its own!) that was generously spooned on top. Perhaps I am too basic but I am of the mind that having paid for top-shelf caviar, you would want to taste it in all its pure and minimally-molested glory.
– Chawanmushi, fermented Napa cabbage juice, foie gras, matsutake, white truffle shavings. I really enjoyed how the vegetal tanginess tied up with the earthy elements. A rich truffle aroma envelops the dish but I suspect that was it contributed by a good quality truffle oil and not by the slightly anemic-looking truffle shavings. The foie and mushrooms were miniscule.
– Western Australian Marron, sea buckthorn and saffron bisque, carrot-curry condiment. A supplement course at a rather hefty price. Perfectly pearly and juicy marron but somewhat less tasty and sweet than, say, American lobster. The tartness of sea buckthorn dominated the ‘bisque’. I know this is New Nordic but come on…
– Caramelized onion velouté, crunchy Marcona almonds, liquorice powder. Very good comfort food. You should stir the potent and minty liquorice evenly into the soup before eating.
– (No pic) roasted 5-day aged Kinki fish, Kinki bone broth, shiso oil, Japanese mussel, Lardo di Colonnata, lemongrass sabayon. Fine fish preparation. Kinki fish was grilled to millimeter perfection and had loads of fat.
– 5-week aged and BBQ-ed quail, abats, wasabi, quail sauce with long pepper and vanilla, Amalfi lemon kosho condiment. The star of the show was, believe it or not, that lumpy looking knob of lemon kosho to the side. Zingy and full of cirtusy freshness. I would buy a whole jar in a heartbeat!
– Frantzen ‘French toast’: fried sourdough bread, parmesan cream, 25-year-old Balsamico, *Himalayan* black truffle. I did a double take at the provenance of the truffle. From what I have read prior, Tuber indicum truffles from the Himalayas is a far inferior variety to the mighty European Tuber melanosporum. However, the truffle slices on this toast did look, smell, and taste like the real thing. What’s the deal here? Did someone figure out how to cultivate the melanosporum in China/India/Nepal? Or is the Tuber indicum in fact not as terrible as how traditional truffle merchants make it out to be? I hope it’s the latter!
Sweets
– Pre-dessert: Unsweetened roasted buckwheat panna cotta, finger lime, grape, umeshu jelly, Sichuan pepper oil. Nice.
– Dessert (no pic): Chinese tea mousse, matcha nori powder, sea buckthorn and carrot gelato, nori tuile. This was frankly horrifying. I never want to taste this combination ever again. Not hyperbole to say it might have spoiled my memory of the meal.
Do they still serve the waffles at the end? (didn’t see it mentioned in your menu)