Zenses, Liquid Nitrogen, and ME!

To all food afficionados wanting something new:

I recently attended a food tasting/launching in Zenses, neo-chinese cuisine place in the A.Venue Mall c/o Playboy Magazine. Initial impression of the sampling wasn’t very impressive, but I got what they were going for, which was a new twist to Chinese Classics. Suffice it to say, I was not super impressed, but what I was–was intrigued with a drink they made with Liquid Nitrogen, you heard it folks, LIQUID NITROGEN. So, I thought that maybe this place was awesome for drinks, but a friend of mine, showing great “bullshitting” abilities, got us free food not with the sample that they were giving–what food? POPCORN.

And that popcorn blew my food-loving mind.

For one thing, that popcorn was billowing out smoke like it was cooking from a witch’s cauldron! And when you put the popcorn in your mouth? The first bite spews out billows of cool smoke. That in itself was amazing!
The popcorn itself was sweet, salty and had this unique flavor that right now I can’t really tell you, but maybe with another bowl of that, I prolly could.(haha) I tell you, that was phenomenal for me as I’ve read about this, and only have seen this in television. (Heston Blumenthal anyone?)

That single moment in itself made Zenses, one of the restaurants I WILL try and eat again in properly, so I did.

Last Sunday, for lunch I took my family for Mother’s Day lunch in Zenses. We ordered : Not So Chicken Lollipop, and Beef Something (I forgot), Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice, Polunchai dimsum, and the Nitrogen Made Ice Cream. Yes, you read right— Nitrogen made Ice Cream.

The Chicken Lollipop was suprising. It was chicken loaded with other meat and goodies, served with a sweet-sour sauce, and a plum sauce. My brother, who’s the chicken-guy in the family gave it a thumbs up. The Beef dish was good served with crispy onion rings, a somewhat-typical chinese beef dish (think beef and brocolli, although less of an oyster sauce taste, a lot deeper, like it was made from almost demi-glace, in other words it’s like a beef stew, but with the barest hint of oriental) with peas. The Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice was good, my mother said, she could that eat that on its own.The Polunchai dimsum was not our choice, we ordered an Oyster Pancake but we were told the oysters were not up to par, and could not be served to us, and we were given a freebie instead.

Can I just take this moment to commend that restaurant for doing that. As you well know, Oyster Pancake will and can very well hide some if not, a lot of oyster imperfections, or even hints of it not being uber fresh. (Flashback to remembering an oyster pancake from a well-known chinese food joint. I shudder!) So we got the Polunchai, I’ve had this type of dimsum before, but it was way better than any I tasted, maybe because it was 1) free and 2)steamed fresh and not in those food carts that just go around and you pick? Hmm, it was good enough that we got another order of it that we paid for. har har!

Now comes the exciting part, table-side service. Any one knows that table side service is the bomb for foodies, but making ice cream!!? I thought i’d have to go to the states to get this, so I knew that I personally was in for a treat. We were given a slew of flavors to choose from— from baileys, to lavender, to rose, and that Hongkong flower.

We picked BACON AND EGG. I think it was the chef himself that served us (must get his name next time). I loved the interaction, and I honestly wanted to jump up and down and beg him to let me try it! (PS. I’ll prolly do that next time!). So after the smoke cleared, we saw semi-solid ice cream. We were given martini glasses, in which liquid nitrogen was poured (it really does bubble btw) and then our ice cream was placed in the cooled glasses, and we got to enjoy it.

I personally couldn’t taste the bacon, but I did saw bacon bits, but the egg was very present, and for a dessert, it was good, and I liked it. But I am excited to go back and try out the other flavors.

Total damage was only P1650 : ice cream, a rice dish, 2 main courses/entrees, a dimsum dish for 4 people who were very psyched to have eaten there, and will return for more.

So foodies, let’s go eat there?!!! I think we’ll have a great time asking/harrasing the persons to let us try making our own table-side ice cream! har har!

PS. The table beside us were calling their friends and telling them about it, and video-taping it, which I should have done too! haha!