Zero.Zero @ The Central

[This was a HungryGoWhere food tasting / review session with the HungryGoWhere folks.]

Zero.Zero, the moment you walk in has a warm cosy feel to it. If you are a woody/brown person the deco here would please you from the start. I like the deco that makes you very comfortable. Probably because I like the earthy tones.



Zero.Zero is by the same people behind Tao's Restaurant. They serve fusion food that's quite reasonably priced and of quite good quality too.



There are a few sections in the restaurant. There are a few private rooms, an open place where you can hold private corporate events and also the above, two long parallel tables where I was told, people hold intimate wedding banquet for close family and friends.



This was the Zero Signature Set that we tried that night.  It's a picked 1 dish from each section style of ordering. 

When you are ordering food, there's a guy who comes with a iPad to take your orders. Take a peep into his iPad like we did. It's quite a cool app that you can view photos of the dishes that you want to order!

Here's the amuse bouche and the 5 courses that I had. 

Amuse Bouche

We started with a shot glass of icy plum juice. It was served on a wooden container that's filled with ice. The slightly sourish taste activates your saliva glands and you can't wait to have your meal!


We had 3 little creations for the Amuse Bouche. What was served to us that night was a potato croquet, mini or shall I say micro toast with foie gras on it and seared scallop on watermelon. The potato was nice, but I could not appreciate the foie gras.


While I did not really like the toast and foie gras because of a personal bias, I really like the seared scallops on watermelon. It has a refreshing feel to it.

Cold Dish

There were 5 choice for the cold dish and I chose the Smoked Duck Breast with Apple Slices. The slightly salty smoked duck goes well with the apple slices that was crunchy and sweet.

I like how the crunchy and sweet apple slices went with the salty tender yet a little chewy duck meat. If you like you could also pour the shot glass of apple puree over it. The slightly acidic puree will cut through the sweetness and saltiness of the dish, but I prefer it just the apple slices and duck.



I borrowed my neighbour's dish to take a photo too. If you don't like duck, try the Maguro Tataki Carpaccio. Looks quite good doesn't it?

Side Dish

For my side dish, I chose the Stewed Beef Tendon. Most of us ordered this because we all heard it's once of the best dishes around.

It is really very good. The tendon had been braised till they just dissolves in your mouth. The braise is very nice too and the 2 bread sticks can be used to soak up the sauce. I would love to have 2 portions of this!


This was also a 'neighbour's dish' that I borrow to photograph.
It's the Grilled Escargot with Cheese.


Someone thought of trying Sake and was introduced this Sakura Sake.

Oooo. This very different indeed. It's fragrant and very sweet!
You might forget this is sake and down the whole bottle!

Soup

For the soup, I had the Japanese Clear Fish Soup. I chose this because I saw on the menu that the rest of the soup were cream based and did not feel like having a heavy soup. The soup was all right. Light and tasty, but a little forgettable. ;-)


The neighbour's Cream of Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil. He seemed to enjoy it, so I guess it was good.

Main Course

Everyone heard that this was the best, and almost everyone who liked beef ordered it. It's 'Beef Loin on Houba Leaf'.  The beef was placed on the houba leaf and it's on top of a very heated stone. Very hot stone!

Houba or some spell it as Hoba Leaf is a species of Magnolia that's grown in the higher altitude forest in Japan.


The beef is only lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper. One of the reasons why the place is called Zero.zero is that they want you to try dishes as it is, with minimal flavouring.

The beef loin was good! The leaf was slightly crackling all the time, and it also gave a slight burnt aroma while you cook it.  The leaf acted like a 'non stick' layer that prevented the beef from sticking on the stone. Cook the beef according to the done-ness you like.

I would highly recommend you to try this!


If beef is not your thing, maybe you can try what another neighbour tried, this was the Pan Roasted Duck Confit with Mustard Cream.

Dessert

I heard everyone said the Zeromisu was excellent, but I wanted to try their Vanilla Mille Feuille, Zero Style. It was I guess all right.


OK, I confess. I ordered this because it comes with a scoop of ice cream!

It was a good meal and also to meet up with some HungryGoWhere reviewers. The neighbour that I was talking about, he looked so familiar, but both of us can't figure out where and when we met!

I think a 5 course meal for $89.80++ was a good deal. The food's of a certain quality too. It's a nice place to bring your date for a meal with a view (depending on where you are seated). I read of a review by a lone diner (on HungryGoWhere) too that says it's a nice place to eat alone.

Hint: There are a few credit cards that either give you a 1-for-1 or 50% off this set meal. Read other reviews on the HungryGoWhere site for the offer updates. ;-)

Read more reviews of this place at the HungryGoWhere site:
http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Zero_Zero/


Zero.Zero
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#04-86 The Central,
Singapore 059817

Tel: 6224 4139
Hours: Daily 11:30 am - 10:00 pm