Semi-Buffet Lunch @ Zenden

Zenden Restaurant
13th June 2010. Written by Xin Li.
Zenden Restaurant is located in the unique Gallery Hotel at Nanson Road. This hotel is special as it features rooms with different themes and not to mention the Mondrian/ Pop art inspired facade it has. SAFRA has a 20% discount of the total bill at Zenden for a quite a while, so I decided to have a meal there together with two of my friends last Sunday.

The restaurant is located on the 4th storey. It has with a lounge area (prepared for the World Cup craze at the moment) and a main dining area with pink, cyan, purple and orange as the dominant colours. The full length windows allows natural light to illuminate the restaurant, a stretch of mirrors behind the bar gives an illusion of space. Some of the tables are seemingly suspended in the mid air by cables from the ground and the ceiling, something unique. The overall style is contemporary without doubt.

Zenden Restaurant offers a semi-buffet lunch with a choice of main course daily for 23++ SGD, or just the buffet for 18++ SGD. The three of us had the Grilled Sirloin Steak with Mushroom Sauce The buffet spread isn't big, so if you are looking at a huge spread you will be very disappointed.

There is a Appetizers bar with Waldorf Salad, Ham and Potato Salad etc. All of them tasted average to me. The Waldorf Salad could do with less cream. The salad bar is probably the highlight of this appetizer corner featuring different kinds of sauce and greens.

There was soup too, it was some Teochew Fish Soup which I didn't try.

The Cooked Food corner features Fish Fingers with Tartare Sauce, Roast Beef (where the waitress could slice and pour the sauce for you) Roast Duck and Xiaolongbao. All them are also ordinary. The Xiaolongbao was poorly done though, thick skin without much filling and devoid of soup.

After having some cooked food and appetizers, the waitress would ask if they could serve the main course, observant and attentive staff.

The Grilled Sirloin Steak was being ordered in three degrees by three people, I had it medium rare, my friends had it medium and medium-well. The sauce used shitake mushrooms instead of button or portobello mushrooms (but this is up to the kitchen). The shitake mushroom sauce was slightly salty, shitake mushrooms have a heavier flavour that doesn't seemed to go well with the steak. The sirloin steak was quite tough and chewy. Despite coming in three degrees, we couldn't really differentiate the 3 kinds of steaks.

However, the sides are okay, the potato wedges were alright and the portion was quite big.

Finally it is time for desserts!

They have chocolate fountain for chocolate lovers and a selection of pastries and cakes such as Apple Turnovers and Cheesecakes. The Hazelnut Crunch was quite good, I like the crunchy bite that comes with the smooth, creamy cake.
The Espresso cake was decent too, enough coffee flavour.

The Berry-based Cheesecake was too sour, apart from that the desserts are average, enough satisfy your sweet cravings (don't expect a Tampopo, Bakerzin or K ki though)

The highlight of the semi-buffet here would be the Movenpick Ice Cream (Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla). The vanilla ice cream (with lots of vanilla speck wasn't too sweet and has such a nice smooth silky texture that I had seconds of it) The chocolate ice cream was really good too.

Overall, Zenden Restaurant's Semi-Buffet Lunch might not have the variety or tip-top quality but it is rather good for value. Don't expect the quality or spread like that of Melt, 333, The Line, Cafebiz etc, just a normal buffet with great ice cream and environment to spend an afternoon.

I must also mention that the service at Zenden was really good, very friendly and attentive staff. Water re-filled promptly, plates cleared politely and efficiently and the service attitude was very positive.

The Semi-Buffet Lunch with main course costed us $23++ but with SAFRA's 20% Discount, we paid about 22+ SGD each. (ends Dec 2010)

Near Robertson Quay, you could have a breakfast nearby before heading to Zenden. The guests of Gallery Hotel are lucky to have Kith, Epicurious and Boomerang so near to their doorsteps!

Zenden Restaurant

Address
1 Nanson Road
4F The Gallery Hotel

Tel: +65 6849 8699

Opening hours
Sun–Thu
12pm – 3pm, 6.30pm – 11pm
Fri–Sat
12pm – 3pm, 6.30pm – 12am