ZenZero Blu

Location:32 Best Street, cnr St Georges Road
Phone:03 9481 3393
Time:Dinner
Cuisine Type: Vegetarian/Mediterranean
Price: from $3-$20




What got dished out:

This was the first thing that came out as part of the Vegetarian Degustation menu to share.
We had Spanish & Australian Olives with Coriander and macadamia; Beetroot dip served with charred roti bread.
Personally I didn't like the Olives at all, the smaller ones were really bitter and we weren't sure which ones were the Spanish ones and which ones were the Australian ones.
The dips on the other hand were a nice surprise, I warmed up quickly to the Macadamia/Coriander one a lot quicker than I did to the beetroot.



The second dish that came out was Pumpkin cream and Basil Soup. I was impressed when it came out looking the way it did (as you see it in the photo) but I couldn't help agree with a user on my FourSquare app commented that it "tasted like something from a can" because it definately did taste like something served from a can.
But at least i can safely say that it was a nice "canned" soup, although I don't think it was from a can as the waitress claimed that everything made was fresh. I hope she didn't mean they "freshly opened up a new can for us". I also find it quite disappointing when "pumpkin" soup is served as part of any Vegatarian meal, It's almost like a palm off. You know Vegetarians have more exciting tastebuds than just pumpkin soup, and they don't just eat pumpkins... arghz

We were then served "Warm breaded dutch goats cheese with zucchini" which was a nice surprise. I didn't mind the goats cheese so much because I usually make interesting faces when I have to eat this. For some reason I just can't get my tastebuds to like goat's cheese.
What I really liked about this was the bread, it was nice and crispy and it was the only thing that was making this dish work.
I loved the fact that these were quite small although in the photo they look like large servings, in reality it's on a small plate.
It was a good thing I didn't have to share this because I don't think I would have been sharing this with my friend.

I was disappointed with the "porcini mushroom and pumpkin arancini ,tomoato sugo and salsa verde" in short arancini's served.
I was struggling to eat the first one, let alone having to go onto the second one.

There was just wayyyy to much stuffing and frankly by this stage I was starting to get completely full.





By the time the salad came out I was completely and utterly full. It didn't meant that I stopped eating altogether. The salad was interesting to say the least. I could taste the orangy-zest marinade over it which was quite nice, the walnuts and sesame was different, but I didn't appreciate the pumpkin or the greenery(rocket)..Seriously everytime someone puts rocket into my salad, it always reminds me of the weeds my dad used to pull out of the garden. *shudders*

When I say the salad was interesting, what I meant was it was much better than the next dish (Risotto with Peas and Cheese) that came out at the same time as the salad.
Coming from a Vietnamese background, Risotto's are somewhat hard to eat because the rice is something I'm used to. I have come across great Risotto, this was not it. In fact it didn't even meet the good catergory.
The first thing that came to mind besides "this is such an ugly dish" was "OMG it smells". The cheese was a heavy pugnant smell. It was so bad, I wished I had lost my sense of smell as the abuse on the nose was so bad I wanted to vomit. Actually, it smelt like stale vomit. You can guess that I only had a little bit and pushed the dish as possible from myself.

When the dessert came out, I was hesitant to even try it considering the last dish happened to be so bad. I had lost complete hope. Surprisingly the Pear and Chocolate Crumble was so devine, it melted in my mouth... and I was in heaven!
The apple did crumble in my mouth :P and the chocolate was nice, warm and milky!

I was saddened that the dessert was so small, although the photo makes it look like it's a large serving, and heck I wished it was a very large serving because frankly I could have eaten it even if it were the same size as a large dish.


My thoughts:
This set us back at the cost of $32, in terms of dining standards, actually degustation standards, that's extremely cheap.
However, like any degustation experiences, there are usually some hits and misses. This place had very few hits but a lot more misses.
I was impressed that they even offered a Vegetarian experience as there aren't that many places that I know of that even bother with degustation targeting at Vegetarians...
Perhaps I was deluded thinking that like with any other "degustation' experiences that the food would interesting in fact an exercise to give the restaraunt the opportunity to showcase their techniques, a small introduction to what's on off.
However thedishes were very unimaginative and very un-original. Very typical vegetarian food palm offs that restaurants like to throw together when they're stuck with a vegetarian and the chef is at the back screaming "what do we do? what do we serve?!!?!? ahhh pumpkin soup!?!?!"

In terms of service, I couldn't fault the waitering staff other than they were too friendly and started chit chatting to us about their lives. For first-timers this is a bit too much, for regulars I'm sure it's fine if you had built that rapport.

Overall I'm still reserved. I'm not sure if I like it as of yet, just the Risotto alone is enough for me not to go back, but the dessert and the dips were winners for me something that could potentially draw me back.

I've been told they do change their degustation menus on a regular basis, perhaps another opportunity to try it all over again. For those who are reading this, they also do have a "meat" degustation as well. One I would be interested to try ... maybe