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2013-02-16
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IntroductionBrought to you by the same company, Miramar Group who created Tsui Hang Village, Assaggio Trattoria Italiana, Whisk, and Yamm. So as you can guess, this restaurant has style to it.http://www.miramar-group.com/en/Our-Businesses/Food-and-Beverage.aspxDateFebuary 2013MealDinner at 6.30pmOrderedCold entreeBBQ Australia wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70Spiced Obaro konbu and nori - $20Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30Squid noodles, pickled slaw - $40RobatayakiKurobota Pork, korean
Brought to you by the same company, Miramar Group who created Tsui Hang Village, Assaggio Trattoria Italiana, Whisk, and Yamm. So as you can guess, this restaurant has style to it.
http://www.miramar-group.com/en/Our-Businesses/Food-and-Beverage.aspx
DateFebuary 2013
Meal
Dinner at 6.30pm
Ordered
Cold entree
BBQ Australia wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70
Spiced Obaro konbu and nori - $20
Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30
Squid noodles, pickled slaw - $40
Robatayaki
Kurobota
Pork, korean spicy chilli paste - $45
2 Chicken teriyaki - $25
2 Char-grilled miso tofu skewer - $25
Hot entree
"charcoal" vegetables - $45
Grilled eggplant with bonito floss - $30
Grilled wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65
Drinks
1 glass Asahi
2 glass zanzito
Food
Cold entree
Spiced Obaro konbu and nori - $20
This was not what i expected at all. i must say, it was awful. It was not disgusting, BUT not worth ordering.
I felt like I was eating wallpaper. it looked like a picece of wallpapaer,a nd the texture seemed like it too. itw as dry, rough and obviously tasteless (well, you can taste wallpaper) It did have some kind of spicy powder on the seaweed and on bottom of the bowl. But it wasn't tasty. It was bland, it was dry, it was not enjoyable. iat some point i felt like I had to eat some of it becuase I am paying for it. But after 3 attempts, i agave up, and did not want to ruin my meal. this was the first dish that came, and it was disappointing, and I was afraid the other dishes will be disappointing too.
I have no idea what the dish Was meant to taste like, nor that i rememeber how exactly it taste like, as it was bland. Yes, i must admit it had a gimmick and dry nori, sounds quite creative. But I would, pay more for fresh ones. this was probably the worst dish of the night and will not be ordering againBBQ Australia Wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70
This was probably the most anticipated dish on my list. i have seen photos and was recommended to try this dish. It came in a smaller bowl than I have expected. A few beef pieces on top of shredded cabbages and halved Cherry Tomatoes. It sure looks delicious and colourful. Our server kindly let us know that there are some Chimmichurri sauce over the beef already, but there is an extra pot that comes with the dish incase it is not enough. The Chimmichurri sauce is not as thick as it looks. it is easily to be dipped into and easily spread over the thin slice of beef. The sauce is slightly spicey, and that is why they serve an extra pot on the side for people who has a spicier taste. I liked how it mix in with the meat. It goes quite well with the cabbages too. The whole combination was flavoursome.
Chimichurri from WikipediaChimichurri (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃimiˈtʃuri]) or Chimmichurri is a sauce used for grilled meat. It is originally from Argentina[1][2] but is also used in Uruguay, Southern Brazil, Bolivia, and in countries as far north as Nicaragua, Ecuador,Colombia and Mexico.
Chimichurri is made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white or red wine vinegar. Additional flavorings such as cilantro, paprika, cumin, thyme, lemon, and bay leaf may be included. In its red version, tomato and red bell pepper may also be added. It can also be used as a marinade for grilled meat
The beef itself was not as great. Although it states the beef is Wagyu beef, I was expecting more from it. In return it was disappointing. You can clearly taste the beef was not top quality. BUT for $70 , what do you expect? The dish was GREAT ITSELF, the whole combination, how the sauce goes well with the beef, and how the cabbages neutralize the strong herby flavour. I loved it! When you taste the dish, it is best to eat the beef with the sauce and cabbages in one bite, it bursts with flavour!
Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30
I was sceptical in ordering this dish. I had second thoughts, but 'truffle sauce' definately lured me over. I love Chicken breast, although most Chinese people hates it! I love the meaty Chicken breast with the 'rough' texture, no bones! I am a huge fan of truffle (who isn't?) So why did I have second thought? Well, this dish seemed like a dish i can easily make a home, but what have I got to lose, $30, so gave it a try. Did i regret? OF COURSE NOT! I loved this dish too!!! It is probably the second best dish of the night for me.
The dish was small size of course, and the sliced Chicken breast was so small, probably the size of half my thumb. there was fair amount of Truffle miso cream on top of the Chicken. Underneath the Chicken was cucumber, which is the best partner in cream. Refreshing and healthy! The chicekn was moist and tender and eaten with the cucumber was so refreshing. But WAIT. the cucumber had a different dressing. they used the Japanese Sesame dressing, which I love, but not with the Truffle cream. The sesame dressing was much stronger than the truffle cream, which ruined the whole thing. All I could taste was the sesame dressing. So I had to eat the chicken and the cucumber seperately. If they could adjust the strongness of the sesame dressing, it would be perfect, as the Truffle cream is the 'star' of the dish right?Squid noodles, pickled slaw - $40
This was a last minute dish I ordered as I expected it wouldn't be nice, but ordered incase not enough. The dish was probably the smallest out of the all. It was a small bowl with only a few spoonful It was a orange-red colour, looked super spicey. It turned out to be hot but not as spicey as I thought.
The squid 'noodles' was long strips. The shape and size reminds me of udon. It is served with shorter strips of carrots and pickled slaw, which was sour and tasted great with the spiciness. Also the vegetables in it was crunchy and refreshy, balanced with the squichy chewy squid. What a great dish. It was not mind blowing, but a good dish if you want some 'hotness' in your meal!Robatayaki
Kurobota pork, korean spicy chilli paste - $45
This came first before any of the other. The pork was flatten and grilled to it was crispy which made it very delicious. The texture seemed more like it was grilled pork belly. I can't say it was still juicy as it was quite thin slice and burnt in a way. So it has lost its moisture. But it was still enjoyable, it was like eating fresh pork jerky. The spicy korean paste that was served with it, reminds me of having korean bbq. The cripsy grilled meat with the spicy paste. I like it!
2 Char-grilled miso tofu skewer - $25I was against in ordering this, as I could imagine that grilled tofu would just be tofu. Do not get me wrong, i love tofu, it tastes nice, but we all know tofu is actually quite bland, and we like it that way. Because its bland, smooth, and healthy. But grilling it? Does it make it taste better? it will still be bland. maybe the texture is different, but I do prefer my smooth and cold tofu, or steamed ones.
As i have expected the grilled tofu was bland, tasteless and hardly even seasoned by salt. Two different miso on top of the tofu, black and yellow. the miso was rather salty, which i suppose was to neutralize the blandness of the tofu. But to me, it did not match. I could taste the strongness of the miso, then slowing fading i can taste the tofu. I did not like this dish. It isn't awful, but i would prefer to order other dishes than paying for it.
2 Chicken teriyaki - $25
Out of the 3 Robatayaki, the chicken teriyaki was the best. The meat was juicy and tender.. hmmmmmm. It was lovely. It was not overcooked, nor burnt. The chicken was nicely marinated and seasoned. the sauce was not overflowing but just enough to taste how sweet the teriyaki sauce was. the meat came off the skewer easily, unlike the pork. I loved the chicken. it was perfectly cooked. Although chicken teriyaki is such a simple dish, and the sauce can be easily bought in supermarkets. This was superbly done.
Hot entree"Charcoal" vegetables - $45
This is a very creative dish. It is just a tempura but it is using 'charcoal'. With it black outlook, it makes the colouful vegetables stands out. It looks nothing like I have tasted. It is quite creative and smart using different colours of the vegetables with the black charcoal
Red- red pepperPurple - Purple potatoe
Green - Green Pepper
Orange - Sweet potatoe
Yellow - Pumpkin
The tempura was not oily and what I adored about it is, the tempura layer is not thick like other tempura I have tasted. I hate those thick layer of tempura, as it is just flour deep fried. Ones i ahve had in japan, is only a thin layer, not as hard and thick as the ones in Hong Kong, which makes it so oily and unhealthy. This tempura did not give me the unhealthy, oily feeling. Even letting it sit around for 20mins and continue to eat, it wasn't oily It was still crunchy, but without that thick crust and oily crust you can atste how fresh the vegetables it is, with some crunchiness on the outside. i like this tempura, even thought I am not a big fan. i like theres a combination of good fresh vegetables. And obviously the vibrant rainbow colour of the vegetables satisfied my eyes before i could even eat it!
Grilled eggplant with bonito floss - $30
I needed more vegatable in my meal, and who does not like grilled eggplant. I know what iw as expecting from this dish so it was not much of a surprise, nor disappointment. it plainly taste like grilled eggplant with lots of bonito floss. The egg plant was in a thin slice with lots of sauce on top. the sauce reminds me of teriyaki sauce, but less dense and less salty. It went well. the eggplant was average, but it was still nice to eat. Especially if you prefer to have some vegatbles after eating lots of meat.Grilled Wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65
This is definately my best dish of the night. The bowl was slightly bigger than the other dishes and came with a big spoon. Even looking at the dish made my mouth water. 4 thick slices of Wagyu beef on top of the rice and a lovely half cooked egg on the side! The egg was looked gorgeous. The egg yolk was golden orange. I popped the runny egg yolk and mixed it in with the fragrant Nishiki rice. The rice was sticky and bursting with the taste of the egg yolk. So creamy and juicy. I couldn't stop eating this dish.
The beef is definately worth my rave about it. It was thick slice which means a richer taste of the beef. Can I actually say I could taste the beef in this beef? There was a moment where I thought 'wow, this is what beef should all taste like' It is char-grilled on the outside, not overdone, nor raw, perfectly done. It was juicy, it was moist, it was FANTASTIC! 4 slices of beef was definately NOT enough. I had to eat half of a slice with one spoonful rice, which was a great combination. It was a perfect dish. Too perfect, I am planning to go back soon just for this dish!Atmosphere
Situated in the heart of tai Hang, i knew this place will be quite trendy. i love dining in tai Hang. Not as much tourist or people. yes there are lots of diners and usually huge queue or ealy reservation. But it isn't packed like CWB or Wanchai.
From the outside and looking in, it reminds me of those hip boutique restaurants in London near Soho or Covent garden. If you look in from outside near the entrance, you will be captivated by the glowing bar. the bar takes up almost the whole of the restaurants with seats around it. It is definately an attractive bar, with many alcohol stacked on top. I could not stop looking at the bar,e ven when I was seated.
Even when it was packed, it did not seem too lousy. It kept its coolness and chilled. music plaing at the background, but not R&B but mixed trance music. It was quite nice, it really did seem like a bar than a restaurant to me, but I like these places, hard to find in Hong Kong.table seats are tightly packed together. There are only 4 two people table and they are sitting side by side. And only 1 4 people table at the back.. But there are more bar seats which i would probably choose next time, as they arent as cramped. that is probably why they serve small dish size, the place is too small for bigger dishes.
Service:
Service was quite attentive. we were greeted by a lady which i guess is the manager. She did not come over and greet but acknowledge us as we entered. She kindly let us choose where to sit. She notified me the specials tonight and took orders for our drink. She was a plaesant lady, and always helpful even if I had questions. She seemed to have the patience and sincerity that many Hong Kong-ers do not have any more. It was super busy that night, but she still made sure we would get our food, and introduced each dish to us.
On the other hand, another waiter kept coming back to take away our dish. He was a nice guy, and very hardworking and polite. But it got quite annoying when he keeps standing behind us and then moving his hand to get the empty dishes like every 2 minutes, Even if I was taking pictures he would interupt and push the pishes, or even if I was spooning something up. He would come every 2mins to check and keep interupting the whole process of food and conversation. I do not think he had bad intentions, or did it on purpose, instead I think he is very responsible and hardworking, but over-doing it bit too much and casuing an issue for costumers tio chill. He needs to stop doing it.
The lady manager apologized for him as in the end he took away all the dishes before we paid the bill. I think overall, it was a good service provided. They were polite, attentive and even patience. What more can you ask?
Menu explantaion
Menu was only a page long. Simple but has a few varieties of dishes to choose from.I would say they are all tapas style, meaning small size and meant to be sharing! So do not expect or think what a bargain, for little price you get a big plate. Because you will not. prices are ranged from lowest $20 -$75
Food menu are divided into 4 categories
Cold entree
Robatayaki
Hot entree
Dessert
I picked a few from each category, except Dessert. as it did not look to appetising. plus there are so much choice of dessert around Tai hang and Tin Hau.
Drinks menu was rather huge. mainly alot of japanese alcohol, for example different types of sake, and different types of shochu. Which made me think this restaurant is running on Japanese style. there are beers,a nd wines. But less choices of wine. And just a reminder, as the table next to us, wasn't too happy that his wine was not served in a Wine glass. As this is japanese base, and focus on more of its sake and shochu, they used different type of glass. Which i quite liked. suited the environment and atmosphere more.
Drinks
Zanzito
I am a huge fan of Mojito. I love how the mint and lime gives you such a refreshing taste afterwards. It cools you down straight away. Zanzito is Zanzo's mojito, instead of using rum as the liquor, it uses sake. I was really curious on how it taste. Surprisingly, it was brilliant. i do not like rum much myself, It taste too bitter. So they used Sake instead of Rum, it was perfect. It wasn't bitter nor was it too strong. It seemed to me and I was sceptical that there was no alcohol in it. It seemed more like virgin mojito with soda water in. It was delicious though, it was refreshing with lots of mint and chilled. it was a fairly small glass with quite bit of ice. So i had two glass and still wanted more. I might just go back for more of these.
RecommendationBBQ Australia wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70
Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30
Chicken teriyaki - $25
Grilled wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65
Zanzito
Verdict
Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!
Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥
Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥♥
Details
G/F, 15-16 School Street, Tai Hang
Tel : 2750 6490
Nearest MTR : Tin hau
http://www.zanzo.hk/
Mon - Sat
Lunch - NOT OPEN
Dinner- 6pm - 1am
Closed MONDAY
Reservation: Walk in only!
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