Zenen is a restaurant located in Herbis Plaza basement 2. If you ever encounter problems finding this place, just look for the restaurant closest to the Ritz Carlton entrance. I previously blogged about this place and stated that it was an izakaya restaurant. Actually, it's more of a combination of an Izakaya, Kappou and Kaiseki restaurant. You can order both ala carte dishes or a course menu here depending on how big your group is which makes dining here very flexible. By the way, their claim to fame dish is a snapper claypot rice; I liked it when I tried it last time but I didn't order it this time before my parents weren't fans of it. Anyway, This is my 3rd visit here and as much as I enjoyed my meal given the very classy but relaxed atmosphere and generally good standard of food, the tempura and karaage dishes were rather disappointing this time round. But before I continue with this short review, shall we have a look at the pictures of my meal:
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| Oyster with citrus in Ponzu Sauce |
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| Sea Cucumber with seaweed and citrus in Ponzu sauce |
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| Monkfish liver with citrus in ponzu sauce |
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| 2 kinds of horse meat sashimi - to be eaten with shoyu, ginger and spring onions |
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| Wagyu beef maki sushi topped with sea urchin |
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| 6 kinds of tempura |
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| 5 kinds of mushroom tempura |
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| Wagyu beef steak served on a heated stone |
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| Puffer fish karaage |
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| Chicken drumlets karrage |
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| Miso soup loaded with clams |
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| Cold Soba |
As I was saying, what bothered me about the tempura was that the batter was very thick and didn't stick to the food items. It also became soggy very fast. As for the karaage dishes, even though the batter was thin, it lacked any crunch and similarly became soggy quickly. Apart from these, the rest of the items were delicious. Honorable mentions are the wagyu beef maki sushi topped with sea urchin and the horse meat sashimi - those two were really treats to my palate. Price performance here is ok, not great but it's decent, I felt what I spent was about right in terms of portion and quality. The million dollar question is will I be coming back here again? Well, I guess I would, but I won't be as willing since this visit was spoiled by the tempura and karaage dishes which if you've noticed, made up about half the things I ordered for my dinner here.
Website:http://www.zen-en.jp/about.html
Address: Herbis Plaza Umeda, Basement 2 (near The Ritz Carlton basement entrance)
Budget (Dinner): 6000 Yen per person
My rating: 3.5/5
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