Zenden Restaurant

Came here finally with a friend for its semi-buffet lunch today as she has had a promotional voucher since we have been visiting other restaurants over the last few weeks.

The restaurant was located on the 4th storey of the hotel. When you stepped out of the lift, you will see a cosy and nice waiting area at the lobby with comfortable sofa, LCD TV and magazine racks letting you "relax". This place is just next to the restaurant.

The ambience of the restaurant was great, portraying pink and purple colour theme. We were seated along the full glass window panes which gave us a good view of the outside road and most interestingly the nice condominiums opposite. We have a good view. It was well lighted, with nice background music and what amazed us was the tables! Those tables along the window panes did not have any stand but were supported rather by "cable strings" (those we believed were used to support persons doing bumpy jumpy). However, they were very stable and "unshakable".

The semi-buffet lunch, honestly, did not offer a wide range of food and if you are going for a wide spread buffet, you will be disappointed. You will need to order a main course from the menu (which we did by ordering a grilled black pepper stirloin steak and batter fish which were quite well done) and could enjoy the buffet spread. The portion was quite generous and they were also nicely "decorated"!

The spread comprised of salad bar (among which the prawn salad and coleslaw stood out), beef wrapped roll, mildstrone soup, curry fish slices, crystal kueh (shui jing bao), fried curry puff, fried fishcake with prawns, japanese octupus, bread, ham etc.

The pastries and desserts corner were interesting and quite good, with nice and tasty pastries and cakes, lychee agar agar dessert, mixed cut fruits, chocolate foundae, self-served coffee and tea. What is the best was the ice cream...very nice and soft and smooth. It had 3 flavours - chocolate, rasberry and mable-vanilla.

Service was good, staff were friendly and polite and smiles were on their faces at all times and were also prompt to clear the used plates and utensils. When you foot the bill, they would also ask you if you will need a complimentary carpark ticket which was very nice gesture and all of them would also greet you "to have a nice day and thanks for coming"!

While I must admit that from my buffet experiences, it was one of the restaurants that offer the least variety of food but based on the price that we were paying, it was extremely "great value for money". (even if you go to Jacks place or Swenson for the steak or fish and chips, it would cost about the same even if there is no promotion here and so its more worthwhile to dine here...at least at a hotel environment)

The cosy and nice environment is a good place for gathering and chit-chatting session with your friends. You will feel very relaxing and ease dinning here. We did enjoy a great and relaxing afternoon here.

A suggestion is that the restaurant could consider offering a few more variety of dishes(also may increase the price slightly to justify the increment of dishes) and/or work for credit card companies to offer more promotions. We believe more people will know this place and sure will come and try!

Women; one can never pamper them too much. The instance you treat them a wee bit nicer, they’d expect you to shower them with the same or better attention from then on. Expectations had been set in motion. Once you slack by just a lil, they’d whine that you don’t love them as much anymore. Sigh. They really can’t discern the difference between a privilege and an entitlement, can they?

In case you are wondering, no...I don’t bat for the same team. I’m talking about my mum. Well, for the past few months, I had been asking her out for lunches once every fortnight as I thought it’d be lovely to spend some time and explore nice restaurants together. Just barely 3 weeks after our last outing, just cos I haven’t had the time to (and of cos, I’m trying to cut back on spending and eating too much), she lamented that I haven’t been bringing her out. =_=”

Looking through my Women’s Weekly One-for-One cheque book, I decided to bring her to Zenden situated on the 4th level of Gallery Hotel, as I recalled a very pleasant meal I had the year before; a visit also to utilise the one-for-one coupon from the same magazine for the ala carte main course. This time round, I was delighted to see that the one-for-one is for the lunch buffet.

$18.80++ includes the eat-all-you-can appetisers, soup of the day, desserts and coffee/tea from the buffet counter.

$23++ encompasses the above plus the carvey station and choice of main course.

The restaurant looked so different in the day than in the evening 1 year later. What I remembered as a contemporary minimalist interior decor that was apt for a romantic dinner was marred by the mustard and turquoise green seat covers. The restaurant resembled more like a garish canteen from far.

We started with the appetisers of sesame prawns, tuna, marinated seaweed, roast beef cold cuts and gourmet sausages; out of which I abhorred the sausages as I found that they have a very strong odour not uncommon to Indian cuisine. Not my cup of tea. The prawns were also not the freshest I’ve tasted.

Other than the norm dressings, sprouts, cheese, croutons and greens at the salad section, I was jubilated to find crunchy ikan bilis here. Love them to bits man!

Soup of the day was cream of asparagus, which was most disappointing. There was no hint of asparagus and my mum even wondered whether it was mushroom soup as it tasted like those found in Hans cafe, despite the colour.

Zenden served 2 types of bread and both were gratifying enough in my books.

Pan fried yam cake and prawn paste chicken tasted like they had been left out in the air for some time and were just heated up on the buffet table. Braised pork belly and honey roasted pumpkin were palatable but seriously, nothing to write about.

Choices for main course were Pan Fried Butter Fish ”Nantua” served with crushed potatoes and vegetables, Grilled Sirloin Steak served with pepper sauce, potato wedges and vegetables, Teriyaki Chicken served with rice and vegetables and Hainanese Pork Chop served with rice and sweet sour sauce. As the carvey station was serving roast pork loin with apple sauce already, mum and I decided to go for the fish and steak (which was highly approbated by the waitress). Fish was rather fresh with the flaky flesh. However, I found it kinda bland. I asked for my meat to be done in medium rare but it came medium done. Half of the steak was rubbery and inedible. The roasted pork was tender but it was somehow lacking despite the accompaniment of the apple sauce.

I’m totally not a fan of white chocolate but the White Chocolate Cake here simply took my breath away with the first bite. It was not cloying milky sweet. Instead, it had a fruity sweetness to it. My mum liked the Hazelnut Crunch and Apple Turnover. I thought the latter was gratifying, only if there was much more filling within the pastry. Mum and I found the texture of rest of the cakes too coarse, not at all the dainty kind you’d expect to find in a fitting hotel. There was also a chocolate fountain with an assortment of fruits, marshmallows and pastry to dip with but they were not to my liking. Rambutans with Agar agar and freshly cut watermelon, pineapple and papaya were available for those who preferred a light finish to their meal.

Admittedly, I was very disappointed with the variety and standard of food fare this time round. Even my mum refused to give the nod for this restaurant. I guess the only saving grace was the polite, helpful and professional service rendered by the restaurant manager and waitress who took initiative to top up our waters, replaced grimy utensils, fetched more chilli and even informed us of the 3 flavours of Movenpick ice cream station that was at another corner of the restaurant. I was duly impressed by the extent and warmth of their hospitality. However, for such middling food, wonderful service’s not gonna cut it, not by a long shot.



PS: Complimentary parking for 1st 3 hours was given for restaurant patrons, which I thought was a nice touch.

It's been nearly 2 yrs since I last ate dined at Zenden and wanted to relive the experience. I left with a good opinion of Zenden and having lunch there today confirmed that it's still a great place for food, catching up, and a relaxed time.

Food: We opted for the lower calorie semi-buffet only, without the mains and carving board. Looking at the menu, we missed out on a chicken fish and beef cheeks with spaghetti and a baked cod. The reason why we opted out from the mains was that the semi-buffet itself was substantial.

Started with a salad, with a very interesting dressing - cannot place it but it had olive oil, touch of balsamic vinegar and something sweet. I added fried ikan bilis to it, parmesan and croutons. Lovely salad. For starters, they had salted salmon, was a bit tough, but the highlight was a lobster salad. I had a double tablespoon helping of it and it was about 70% lobster, and a touch of peaches. Lovely. Soup was a cream of pumpkin - tasty but could have been served at a higher temperature.

Although this is a appetiser buffet, they had like main dishes served. There was a lamb shank which had good flavour and not overly done, a scallops and prawn stir fry - Chinese style. These two were enough to fill you up without ordering the main courses.

Having saved some stomach for desserts - we had a sampling of the oreo cheesecake, durian cream cake, green tea sponge cake, rasperry cheesecake and mango cake but decided to concentrate on the durian cream cake and Oreos cheesecake. Both were well prepared and at par with NYDC cakes. Coffee and Tea came with the dessert without extra charge. There was a token nyonya presence by way of sago in coconut cream but it was actually full cream milk - did not finish it.

What a lovely meal and at a reasonable price.

Ambience: Zenden stands out as it is unpretentious and contemporary. Tables are mounted on steel cables hung from the ceiling and tightened with turnstiles. Seats next to a full height windoe and brightly lit by natural sunlight. Plastic butterflies float from the ceiling to complete the "Gallery" identity of the restaurant so that it is in tune with the hotel which bears its name.

Value: Semi-buffet with the mains is $18.00++, add $10 more for the mains and carving board. It is not only the spread but the quality of food that was served that makes it exceptional and worth me writing again after a lapse.

Service: Caron, the cafe manager was helpful and friendly, keeping out of the way but briefing us what came and did not come with the semi-buffet. I think he wouldn't have stopped us if we took a bite of the baked cod. Other staff were attentive and friendly, clearing dishes regularly but keeping their distance.

When they ran out of lobster salad, they replaced it with freshly boiled pink prawns and a mushroom salad, sadly we did not try them as we were already too full to eat any more.

I have never been to this part of the road, let alone dine in Gallery Hotel. Armed with the Singapore Women's Weekly 1-for-1 main voucher, i made a trip down with a girlfriend last Thursday.

The lift at the lobby takes you straight to the 4th floor, where Zenden is. You actually step out of the lift right to the restaurant entrance because there's no doors to the place.

Soft jazzy music compliments the dimly-lit interior, and the best seats are the ones right next to the glass panes, although the bright lamps on each of these tables tend to make the seats slightly warm.

Menu is actually a clipboard with the different pages clipped on. Smart move I thought, as changes to the menu can be done quite easily in this case.

Bread (complimentary) - normal soft white rolls, served warm and with butter.

Baked scallops & prawns ($22) - it came with mushroom risotto and a few pieces of asparagus. The seafood was very fresh and came in a generous portion. There was also this crab/lobster bisque-like kind of sauce that came with the rice: not bad, but have it while its hot. The asparagus was too old though, I poked it aside after my 1st bite.

Flambe Tenderloin ($28) - my friend ordered this as there is something rather attractive about flambe dishes (we think). The 2 pieces of small tenderloin was done rather nicely, and it was fun watching the service staff cook it in front of you. Apparently the taste is not bad. The sauce that accompanied the beef was extremely salty however, really really salty. There was also this square of alternate layers of potatoes and cheese, baked, and very good!!. Its a french thing supposedly but I don't know what it's called.

Thick cut fries ($5) - technically we didn't order this, as my friend has requested for her side of mashed potato to be changed to this. Not bad actually, although it wasn't served hot enough for me.

Vanilla ice cream - this sweet surprise was served to us at the end of the meal, a scoop for each of us. Your normal King's ice cream, but still a nice touch I thought.

Quality of food exceeded my expectations to be honest; I had expected lesser fare from a hotel 'coffeehouse'.

Service needs to be much improved though. The place was a tad understaffed, with some of them disappearing at times, leaving only 2 staff throughout the restaurant. Very hard to get staff's attention, and I realised some of them had the tendency to walk backwards (i'm not kidding!) while looking at things or mumbling stuff, which makes getting to them even harder!

We wanted to change our main course to those under the flambe section after they took our orders so we asked a staff if he can check if they've already started preparing our orders, and if not, we would like to change our choices. He smiled sheepishly, asked us to wait a minute, then asked someone in a jacket which we assumed is the supervisor or captain to come over. So we repeated our request; he walked off to the kitchen for a while, then walked away to do other stuff. So we were puzzled, not sure if it meant yes or no??? So we asked him again, to which he said okay, and brought us the menus. We deliberated over it, then finally when I wanted to place my new order, the same guy told me: oh, im sorry, I think the chef has already started to prepare your order". Eh???

Finally, we realised they had no idea of what we were talking about just now, at all! I never did find out what he went over to the kitchen for, but we were just amused~~

Service aside, the prices here are very reasonable for a hotel, mains between $12 - $28 and desserts around $6-8. Will be a possible dinner option if I'm in the vicinity :D

Zenden is one of the offerings in Gallery Hotel's F&B stable, sitting on the fourth level of this art inspired boutique hotel and serving up modern contemporary and Asian cuisine.

Interior, Complimentary Bread & Menu - The restaurant employs a more open concept interior, where the lift landing blends effortlessly into the restaurant and through the use of expansive floor to ceilings windows that overlook the traffic on a rather quiet stretch of road. The use of pink, blue and purple chair wraps give the whole place an almost playful intonation. Add to that the suspended glass tabletops that are supported by only by steel wires running from the ceiling to the floor.

Oven Baked Scallops & Prawns - This dish came served with rice and honestly I was quite taken by it. The scallops were rather big and fresh sans the overwhelming raw taste. Ditto for the prawns as well. Interestingly, the rice tasted more like paella to me and was firm yet mildly chewy. Capping off this simple yet satisfying dish was the thick gravy that came across as a tad milky and peppery.

Flambe Beef Medallion Steak - I call this the highlight of the evening, not so much for the taste of the beef, but the spectacular (well almost) performance that preceded. The supervisor wheeled out a trolley and proceeded to flambe my steak in front of my table (talk about cutting cost! Where's the chef?). However, to be fair, the tenderloin came medium rare as per request but I did find it a wee bit too chewy. There was no brandy/wine taste to speak off as well. The accompanying cubes of foie gras had a texture like that of tau kwa aka beancurd - not quivery or smooth but still edible.

Banana Split - What can I say? Supermarket grade ice cream topped with fruits instead of just banana and covered in whipped cream. As normal as it gets.

I had the cheaper main taken off my bill due to a promotion, which resulted in a total damage of about $48 ($72 without discount) for 2 pax. I am of the opinion that the food isn't expensive per se, especially when quality is decent and service is excellent. But on a side note, the place did seem a little short handed that evening. Special mention goes to the supervisor, Caron, who provided exceptional service throughout the evening, making our dining experience a truely enjoyable one.

See all my pictures here.

we trudged over to the gallery hotel from chinatown on friday evening. even though i had made prior reservations at zenden, the place was almost empty. (probably 2 or 3 other tables filled?)

so anyway we had:

Oven-baked Scallops and Prawns - coated with a saffron seafood cream served with steamed fragrant rice sauteed with asparagus and mushrooms

Mixed Grills - grilled beef, chicken, pork sausages and bacon served on a bed of herb tomato and curried garbanzo peas toped with black pepper sauce

Banana Flambe - serves 2

my partner had the ovenbaked scallops and prawns and he loved it. i had some of the scallops and prawns and i thought it was done very well. the saffron seafood cream was not too rich, and tasty enough. it complemented the entire dish very well. so because it wasnt overly rich, you dont get the sense that youre being stuffed (like sometimes how some carbonara sauces can be too rich - just to drawn an analogy) he also loved the rice - which i thought was saffron rice but i think was just white rice covered over with the safforn seafood cream - which goes to show that the particular cream was very good. portion wise this wasnt very big - but i think it is nevertheless decent enough sized, you wont over eat.

i had the mixed grill - essentially for want of a better choice. and i think that this was not a good choice. i got them to change their black pepper sauce to mushroom sauce and i think that sauce clashed with their curried peas. in fact the curried peas and sad looking tomato slice did not sit down well with me. the meats were pretty much tasteless (think chicken and grilled beef) the sausage was okay (but if i may remind you we dont exactly know what kind of meat goes into a sausage and most of the time its just stuff they cant sell like ears, nose, tail well you get the drift) but the bacon was a very odd choice especially when it was served soggyish limp and had quite some layers on fat on it. So anyway that was a miss. I ended up giving most of the meat (except the sausage and bacon because my partners too healthy to eat crap like that) to my partner. the dish also came with wedges which sadly was one of the better items i had on the plate.

we thought we would go for dessert and asked for their banana flambe. this dessert was sadly disappointing - they basically flambe the bananas in front of you in a pushcart thing - so hey you see fire and all that but i thought our server lacked finesse and essentially the bananas tasted like goreng pisang without the skin, and the ice cream it was served with was clearly one of the cheap variety. also, because they took quite long to transport the bananas in their frying pan to the plate with ice cream, the ice cream had already started melting. i dont like having melted ice cream, nor having to wait for my food. but i would say they deserve the cost of the dessert for the sheer effort it entailed!

one of the things i did not like about the restaurant is how they place a bottle of mineral water next to your glass on the table, giving the impression that thats the only water they serve, or make you feel like a total cheapo for asking for tap. in any case, we opened a bottle, which cost us an additional $2.40. which objectively is okay, it could have been some outrageous price of $5 (think a can of soft drink at al qasr) but we're not people who need to drink bottled water at our meals, you know.

ambience was great. i would recommend this for a romantic date in a heartbeat. although i do think their flute player who played the flue accompanying cd music (think pop music) was a little weird. she could have just gone classical, you know. service was attentive and polite. so we left a small $5 tip atop the 10% service charge. quite a pity there was like so little people there on a friday night, but all the more perfect for a nice cosy date.

Came here for a dinner meal on a Sunday night, and the place was almost empty. Heard though that its more crowded during lunch hours.

3-course set meal was available, comprising of a starter/appetizer, a main course and lastly a dessert. Menu had a good variety of dishes to choose from, even containing an Asian food section. I chose the 'Salmon and Oriental Tofu' as my appetizer, and didnt expect the smoked salmon to be spicy when it came. Tasty though but nothing special to rave about. Next up was the main course and I had the Medallion Beef Flambé. Definitely this was the dish to remember for the night, particularly for the Flambé cooking display in front of my table and I thoroughly enjoyed and savoured it. Wrapped up the meal with premium triple choc ice-cream for dessert.

A nice, quiet ambience, with quality food and good service. Price of the set dinner was reasonably priced at $34+++ considering that dinner at similar places elsewhere would have cost much more. Worth a return visit in future!

The salad was excellent, the one you pick the ingredients and toss it yourself. The shrimps was fresh like ooomph.

Not many choices but it was nice. Really... it was nice. Even as I'm sitting in my office desk I can remember back in the day I was munching the prawn salad...

I just wish they have caesar salad... which they don't...

But hey, cheesecake's good. Dessert's fine, only no ice cream. But overall, no complain.

I would be happy to bring my clients here again...

The plate was pretty with pink and purple. In fact, the whole hotel was kinda colourful. A cheerful environment sure whet up my appetite... I woke up early on a Saturday morning just to come here to eat lor...

Anyway, the semi-lunch concept meant that soup, fingers food, salad and desserts were free-flow. However, for the main course, ya got to choose from dory fish, chicken or stewed beef.

Read more to see what they have!

http://fun-hideout.blogspot.com/2007/10/zenden-gallery.html


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Came here about a year ago but I only write reviews for recent visits. Went there again today for lunch with 7 others.

Lunch (Mon-Sun) is a semi buffet with a limited starter and dessert menu. Price is $23++ for adults and $18 for children before discount. After discount, it is only about 20/14 each. used to be $20++ but that was last year I suppose

Dinner is a la carte but they have a $33+++ set - starter, main and dessert. Also good value as it is less than $28 after discount!!

Starters:
Couple of salads, smoked salmon, prawn salad, roast beef, mushroom soup (the soup was nice with lots of mushrooms), some roast tandoori chicken, you tiao - not a huge spread but consider the price...

Mains:
Pepper sirloin, Rosemary chicken with mustard sauce OR pan fried dory.

My chicken was nice and tender, with good chips and a very pleasant mustard sauce which was slightly tart.

Those who had steak said it was really good. About 200g I reckon.

Dessert:
Fruit, a selection of cakes, lychee.
Coffee (freshly brewed) and tea included.

Service:
Very good indeed. When you arrive, everybody gets a bottle of 500ml VODA water ($2.40). I decided to decline this and they came with ice PUB water without me asking. $2.40 for 500ml is certainly better than $8-9 for 750ml that some restaurants charge.

Ambience:
Modern (steel look) and very nice indeed. Quiet with high ceiling.

Value:
9/10 for lunch for sure.