Now and Zen (Jazz Bistro)

Too cheesy?
Last Saturday, my family and I went to Zen Jazz Bistro. This is probably a good moment to give a shout out to one of my two followers, Jasmina. She's the one that recommended the restaurant, and I'm glad she did (THANK YOU AGAIN, IF YOU'RE READING THIS) Also a shout out to Chan, who was my very first follower :)

Anyways, after an hour of circling the same spot over and over again, we finally reached Zen Jazz Bistro.

We had almost left, thinking it was closed. You see, it was really dark inside and none of us have very much experience in fine dining, so we didn't know if they would be taking the day off or not. Thank God for my brother, who started jumping up and down, pointing at the windows and telling us he saw somebody inside. We walked in, hoping that it wasn't my brother just seeing things. Relieved, we sat ourselves down on a table for four (well, we asked for a table for five at first, forgetting that Milena wasn't there... so sad).
The interior was very chic, not too big but not tiny either. The only problem was that  it was really dark, so I'm sorry about the bad quality photos. Also, my camera is older than me, so that might be a part of the problem...

You see that waiter? He's in two pictures ( though it's kind of hard to see him in the middle one, because he was moving- he's that blur, by the way) He noticed me taking the pictures, and probably thought I was a stalker or something...
He brought us the menus almost immediately, and I got that little thrill. In my opinion, the two most fun events (?) during an outing to a restaurant is the picking of the dishes, and obviously: the eating.

First, we got drinks. I got the Zen Lemonade. I actually originally wanted to get a normal lemonade, but because of a misunderstanding ended up getting something else.
There are two types of misunderstandings, the awkward, embarrassing type, which I seem to get surprisingly (not really) a lot, and the type that tickles you pink (this is the synonym for glad that thesaurus.com gave me, what is the world coming to?).

Zen Lemonade

This was absolutely gorgeous. Like a tart, refreshing, liquefied version of the amazing baked apple with cinnamon and sugar my sister used to make for me. It's a mixture of tonic, apple juice, cinnamon syrup and lime. Genius.
Even the presentation was appealing. Bright yellow juice, a neon green lime on the side and a black straw and cinnamon on top, to even things out. I will be trying to recreate this at home. What I'm wondering is: where do you get cinnamon syrup?

No food...

deep- fried duck and vegetables rolls with chilli & plum sauce 

The spring rolls arrived around half an hour after we ordered, which is pretty good, for such a restaurant. This dish would be described as a starter, but to me, it was so much more. Despite its small size, these spring rolls blew my mind. Really light and flaky on the outside, and flavorful on the inside, my brother actually asked if he could order it again. In addition, the sweet plum sauce contrasted against the quite salty duck meat.

Uramaki- Baked eel, cucumber, salad and mayo

My mom's dish. It wasn't so great, plus I had eaten this a lot of times before, so it didn't come much as a surprise. Maybe if I had never eaten it before, it might have been better though. It was also kind of cold. I personally think sushi is only good in actual sushi restaurants.

grilled lamb chops with soya & garlic sauce served with sweet potatoes puree

Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. This was easily the best dish of the night. Not because the other dishes were bad, but because this was simply fantastic. Too good for words. The meat was ridiculously soft and juicy, not to mention, well seasoned. It went perfectly with the forest berry sauce, which was not too sweet, but not too sour. The puree, even though it was a side dish, was what won me over. It. Was. The. Best. Mash. I. Ever. Ate. I felt like I was eating a sweet potato cloud. Creamy and "finger lickin' good" (I hope KFC won't sue me).  Stuck artfully in the puree, were two tempura'd (don't know if that's a word)  peppers. They kind of reminded me of that famous hotel in Dubai. You know? The ones they always show on postcards. Unfortunately, I didn't get to try any because my dad ate them both before I could ask him for one (it was his dish). That could serve as a testament to its goodness. Still, I wonder how it tastes... The tomato was also eaten by my dad. It probably just tasted like a tomato, so I'm not too beat up about that.

black tagliolini with roasted Pekin style duck, green asparagus and fresh coriander 

This was really good. The vegetables cleansed me of guilty feelings and made me feel like I was healthy. For once. It was slightly saltier than expected, but the tomatoes helped. I especially liked the taglioni, which gave the dish an interesting look and tasted great too. Mmm.

Wonton soup

 To me this was just wonton soup. I had this so many times, it's scary. Highlights, and slight changes include: More veggies and the wonton meat was incredibly soft and flavorsome. The wontons were the winners in this dish.

walnut crusted and deep-fried goat’s cheese served with lettuce leaves, lemon & truffle sorbet and raspberry sauce 

This was definitely new to me. More of an experience than good eating, though it did taste quite good. An interesting take on breaded Camembert and cranberry sauce. This dish had me intrigued from the beginning, and only after we had finished everything else, had I gotten the courage to order it. I had never eaten goat's cheese before (cringe) so this was a first. It was... different. Slightly pungent, and in the middle it was oozing out. The crust was delicious and even though the actual cheese tasted strange, the lemon and TRUFFLE sorbet helped. I couldn't actually taste the truffles though. Or maybe I did, but I just don't know how it tastes like. Lame. The raspberry sauce was really sour, so what I did was I dipped the cheese in it then I dipped it in the sorbet. So weird, but good at the same time. A great finale to a great evening :)


Zen Jazz Bistro

Ul. Jasna 24, (00-054)

Tel. 022 447 25 00, fax. 022 447 25 01

zen@jazzbistro.pl 

Opening hours:

                        Monday - Friday: 11:00 - 24:00

                        Saturday - Sunday: 12:00 - 24:00

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Oh, and here's the cheesecake: