Yes, I'm afraid
It was well over Sfr120 -including Chinese Tea plus 4 glaces as dessert for 3 adults and 1 child.
Sounds like about what I would order if I was there with a mate...
Seeing that my new abode is all of a 5 minute drive from this place, I can see one or two Ratbert reviews coming up in the next few weeks.
I mentioned Zen to a Taiwanese friend from work who went to check it out. She came back with "don't bother". Apparently the food was okay but expensive so it's not worth the trip.
I'm going with her in a few days to try out another place in Adliswil called "Hei Fung" . They also do dim sum but peking duck needs to be pre-ordered. Will let you know if this is any good.
Well I made it to Zen last night and thought I would share my thoughts...
The location in Adliswil is not exactly convenient, unless you happen to be near SwissRe or Generali, it's a ten minute drive from Enge with parking available or you could easily hop on the S bahn and be there in about the same time. The retaurant itself is very bright and open with a view on one side to the Uetliberg and on the other to... the parking lot. Inside, the decoration is simple, nice, but, in general, we were not that impressed with the decor. The service was excellent, several waitresses took good care of us in both German and English.
The food was, as has been noted, good but expensive. We ordered the mixed, steamed dim sum then went for the Peking Duck. Okay, we ordered a lot of food, but along with a couple of glasses of wine and two small pots of tea we were quickly closing in on 200 swissies. The dim sum was very good and I will be heading back there soon for their Sunday brunch; I can certainly imagine a hungover Sunday being saved by generous applications of their green and white teas and generous rounds of dim sum.
The Peking duck, is another matter. As discussed, they prepare it for you in two rounds, with the second round being (in our case) a prepared dish consisting of the duck, and various mushrooms and vegetables. They bring "the" (or, perhaps "a") duck out to show you at the beginning, but then all the preparation is done back in the kitchen. A certain moderator who knows his Asian restaurants told me this sounds suspect, as the duck should usually be prepared in front of the customer, and it did occur to me last night that there did not seem to be as much duck in the main course as one would expect. It was good and, unlike Hei Fung , they have the ducks ready to go, but for the price (55 per person), I was not blown away.
The restaurant is very highly rated in Zurich Geht Aus , which I have personally found to be a very reliable indicator of quality (as well as entertaining reading), and they are in the Guide Michelin...
As I said, I will be going back, I just won't bother with the duck.
Just wondering ... would it be possible that the swiss strict hygiene laws might prevent the duck being prepared in the restaurant itself?
With the main course - do you mean the actual bit with the pancakes? There usually isn't "that much" of duck here since you only use the skin of the duck. Unless you're in asia - where you'd pay for the dish and not the duck as such...
There is an art to handling the duck and pancakes using a 4 spoon thong technique. Perhaps there wasn't anyone there who have mastered it. But it is part of the "show". Also, there isn't much meat in a duck. The size of the duck is mostly bone.
A dimsum buffet is best enjoyed on Sunday afternoons.
Thanks a lot for the reviews. I will post one as well. My expectations are diminished, so may therefore be pleasantly surprised. Nevertheless, I'm glad there is Dim Sum in ZRH.
no, I mean the The appetizer part with the skin and the pancakes was the first round.
As for ducks and their meat, let me assure you I know my way around a duck. Which reminds me of Rama V in Frankfurt... if you happen to be in Frankfurt, don't miss it.
I've been craving dim sum for more than a year now and have decided to indulge tomorrow. And can't decide between Zen and Hei Fung. Nanda - did you ever go to Hei Fung to sample their dim sum? I've looked at their menu on-line but it does look rather limited...
Going tomorrow at 7:30pm with a friend who's been to Zen.
Will give update for sure.
A group of us went to Hei Fung (Soodstr 17, Adliswil) last night and we all agreed the dim sums were excellent. Although the choice is a little limited, they were all very tasty and fresh. Definitely can be recommended!
As can the prawns in spicy red sauce, szechuan duck and kung po chicken, not to mention the beef with 3 mushrooms.
The restaurant is small but nicely decorated and the terrace outside was lovely for a night like yesterday.
Would recommend booking - although it's in the middle of suburbia, it's very popular.
Barbra.
I was with Barbra last night at Hei Fung and yes, it got the thumbs up. I really liked the atmosphere too.
The dimsums were fresh with good, tasty ingredients. Apart from tasting good, the food was of good quality wasn't oily nor fatty. It was great to sit out on a hot summer's day.
The taiwanese friend who has been to Zen and organised Hei Fung, still reckons Zen should be skipped.
Anyone else had dimsums over the weekend?
I live in Adliswil and in my opinion there is no comparison between Zen and Hui Feng. Zen is very, very good Chinese food and Hui Feng is pretty forgettable. I don't think it's more expensive, as someone above reported. And oh by the way they have Michelin Star.
My girlfriend, who is Chinese and doesn't exactly throw compliments around very easily, agreed that Zen is excellent and it was the first place we went when she visited from New York.
No, they don't have a michelin star. They are listed as "recommended" in the guide. But no star (from their website)
Sounds like I have to try out Zen for myself...
I must definitely try Zen then, if it's so much better than Hei Fung.
Thanks,
Barbra.
As mentioned, incorrect.
As I wrote, the food was good but, sorry, nothing compared to good Chinese food in New York City.
sorry, sorry...was incorrect about the star, but recommended by Michelin is still pretty good.
The Kung Pow Chicken at Zen is really, really top notch. It is spicy, but just enough so, to let you know it's there.
I'm from NYC and lived there for 20 years before coming to Zurich. Eaten a lot of Chinese food in the City and in Flushing, Queens and I think Zen is just as good as anything in NY...just my opinion. I am surprised though that everytime I go there, the place is sort of empty. I think it's a bad location.
I was at Zen's last night. Had most of the steamed dimsums and then satay chicken and chicken in black bean.
The ambiance is nice. The food is so-so. It's like an okay chinese place I would find in London or Melbourne. It's tasty but ok.
The dimsums had nice presentation with different colours and shapes. But they were ok too.
For the price, IMHO, it's not worth a trip to Adliswil for this. The food was ok and pricey. To me it was nohing special.
My vote still goes to Hei Fung. The food was just so much better and that for me is worth a trip to Adliswil from zurich for. It's also not as expensive.
On another note, the service in Zen's was brisk. They were often there to clean up the table of bottles and used dishes/bamboo steamers, even reaching out across people's plates to access them. We had ordered vegetarian dimsums and were told the wrong ones were vegetarian which was not appreciated by the vegie-lover on the table.
Though even with this service, if the food was better, I would go back.
Cheers,
Nanda.
Took the dim sum challenge with Nanda and others last night too, and have to agree: based on dim sum and main dishes quality Hei Fung wins. On value too.
I found the Zen main dishes to be less tasty, and the dim sums slightly less fresh but the dinner turned out to be quite a bit more expensive.
The service was either non-existent (waited forever for the bill) or too prominent (I really don't wish to have a waitress' armpit in my face, even if she's topping up my drink).
That's not to say you can't have a very good meal at Zen. It's just when it came down to the dim sums, Hei Fung won the challenge.
Barbra.
I was in on the "Dim Sum Challenge" too and after several days of mouth watering anticipation, I was seriously let down. I am not a dim sum pro, but potato filled and spinach filled ones seemed odd (was there a raclette one?). The chicken dishes we had were not inspiring either. I don't know how they made it into Michelin.
Jennifer
So far, none of the dim sum I have tried here has actually impressed me. Zen's dim sum in my opinion, is only so-so - it is palatable, but it is certainly not THE best. In fact, I think it is considerably overpriced.
Having sampled dim sum in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and London it is apparent that the standard of dim sum here is lagging behind. The variety here is pretty much non-existent; and the quality and freshness is somewhat dubious in some establishments. In London, I can have a really fresh, filling, enticing and satisfying dim sum meal for three at (6-8 dishes with tea) for around CHF 60-80 at Royal China, which is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the UK capital.
The problem here is that there isn't sufficient demand for dim sum. Hence, the lack of variety, and subsequently, the higher prices. The Swiss have no idea about this aspect of Chinese cuisine - and I suspect few will have even ever had the real thing. Chinese food in Zurich lacks authenticity -most resturants serve dishes adjusted to suit the Western/Swiss palate! Zen is one exception to this - but again, to me it is only an average Chinese restaurant.