RESTAURANT REVIEW
Zensai/Royal Palm Beach
By Judith Stocks
Dining Correspondent
Important: This article was last updated on January 5, 2007. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
Zensai is whole-hog Asian cuisine -- Thai, Chinese and Japanese (including sushi) and a couple of Vietnamese dishes, all bundled together like one big happy family.
It appears to be the answer to a diner's dream -- as long as you're not looking for edgy cooking and don't mind the idea of one-stop Asian dining. The reality factor, however, is a kitchen that seems to take on more than it can handle, and, in the process, bypasses culinary greatness. Not that the food is bad, just that it misses the mark more often than not.
RESTAURANT INFO
Cuisine: Asian
10233 Okeechobee Blvd., Royal Palm Beach
561-795-8882
Cost: inexpensive to moderate
Credit Cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: lunch Monday-Saturday, dinner nightly
Reservations: accepted
Sound level: moderate
Bar: full service
Smoking: prohibited
Wheelchair Accessible: yes
Children's Facilities: boosters, high chairs
>> Complete info
>> Write your review
>> Read other reader reviews
The self-proclaimed ambiance is dubbed "city style," which translates to one humongous modestly appointed space with subdued lighting, dark woods and a sizeable sushi bar. Lacquered tables reflect softly glowing rice paper lanterns centering a room with a slight offset subdivide to differentiate the full service bar area. That's where cocktails, sake and signature martinis come from, along with selections from a small but decently outfitted wine list.
Your global tour of duty can start with house-made soft rice paper summer rolls wrapped around shrimp, basil, lettuce, mint and vermicelli ($7) or its crispy opposite, deep-fried Thai vegetarian spring rolls ($3.50). And, there's gyoza and shumai ($5 each) as well as pork-filled Chinese dumplings ($6) -- which we passed up when we learned that none are made in-house. What we did like was the sound of some Indian pancakes with curry sauce ($4). "Sorry, not available," we were told. But the Asian-style pork ribs were, so we added $7.50 to our check and dug into a pile of gorgeous, glistening meaty bones the menu described as short ribs. Really, they're Chinese-style barbecued ribs, albeit fatty ones, with a messy but good glaze.
Toro was heavily marketed on this visit, but ordering the toro tower, listed on the menu at $15 for an appetizer of chopped toro with black and red tobiko, scallions and sesame crackers, brought us the cold hard fact that the price was incorrect. The going rate was a much heftier $35. Better to downsize to the $14 NY Mets roll that still delivers a toro topping on a well-made roll with Alaskan king crab, asparagus and scallions. Or, have Zensai tataki, a $10 seaweed wrapped interpretation with the ruby flesh of nicely cooked tuna afloat on a pool of mellow wasabi cream.
Bowls of pho ($9) are somewhat restrained in the fresh herb department, so don't count on a truly authentic experience, though the strips of beef are tender enough to eat without looking like a chopstick flinging fool, and the broth is complexly spiced and as soothing as you're likely to find anywhere.
Order Pad Thai ($11-$14) for a moist, vinegary version or one of several other similarly priced stir fries. Keep in mind that it doesn't take long to overcook thin pork chops, which is exactly what happened when the kitchen lost its timing on our Vietnamese pork chops ($16), served with onion strings, though ours were topped with unadvertised tempura battered onion rings. The whole affair is staged on wasabi mashed potatoes -- mediocre at best because of their too-dry texture.
Siam shrimp ($18 for six large ones) means butterflied crustaceans nicely grilled in their shells atop a rainbow of crisp veggies. But, the dish also promises mai fun noodles and doesn't deliver them. And, the Thai basil sauce marrying the shrimp with the veggies is more like heavy Chinese brown sauce than the usual delicate Thai interpretations.
Up for dessert? You'll find most everything is fried starting with cheesecake all the way down the line to ice cream, bananas and Asian donuts, though it is possible to get a scoop of plain ice cream.
New restaurants like Zensai always manage to find new audiences. Whether they have what it takes to keep diners coming back is the age-old question.
Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.
Contact dining correspondent Judith Stocks at judithstocksreviews@yahoo.com or write to her in care of the Sun-Sentinel.
It appears to be the answer to a diner's dream -- as long as you're not looking for edgy cooking and don't mind the idea of one-stop Asian dining. The reality factor, however, is a kitchen that seems to take on more than it can handle, and, in the process, bypasses culinary greatness. Not that the food is bad, just that it misses the mark more often than not.
RESTAURANT INFO
Cuisine: Asian
10233 Okeechobee Blvd., Royal Palm Beach
561-795-8882
Cost: inexpensive to moderate
Credit Cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: lunch Monday-Saturday, dinner nightly
Reservations: accepted
Sound level: moderate
Bar: full service
Smoking: prohibited
Wheelchair Accessible: yes
Children's Facilities: boosters, high chairs
>> Complete info
>> Write your review
>> Read other reader reviews
The self-proclaimed ambiance is dubbed "city style," which translates to one humongous modestly appointed space with subdued lighting, dark woods and a sizeable sushi bar. Lacquered tables reflect softly glowing rice paper lanterns centering a room with a slight offset subdivide to differentiate the full service bar area. That's where cocktails, sake and signature martinis come from, along with selections from a small but decently outfitted wine list.
Your global tour of duty can start with house-made soft rice paper summer rolls wrapped around shrimp, basil, lettuce, mint and vermicelli ($7) or its crispy opposite, deep-fried Thai vegetarian spring rolls ($3.50). And, there's gyoza and shumai ($5 each) as well as pork-filled Chinese dumplings ($6) -- which we passed up when we learned that none are made in-house. What we did like was the sound of some Indian pancakes with curry sauce ($4). "Sorry, not available," we were told. But the Asian-style pork ribs were, so we added $7.50 to our check and dug into a pile of gorgeous, glistening meaty bones the menu described as short ribs. Really, they're Chinese-style barbecued ribs, albeit fatty ones, with a messy but good glaze.
Toro was heavily marketed on this visit, but ordering the toro tower, listed on the menu at $15 for an appetizer of chopped toro with black and red tobiko, scallions and sesame crackers, brought us the cold hard fact that the price was incorrect. The going rate was a much heftier $35. Better to downsize to the $14 NY Mets roll that still delivers a toro topping on a well-made roll with Alaskan king crab, asparagus and scallions. Or, have Zensai tataki, a $10 seaweed wrapped interpretation with the ruby flesh of nicely cooked tuna afloat on a pool of mellow wasabi cream.
Bowls of pho ($9) are somewhat restrained in the fresh herb department, so don't count on a truly authentic experience, though the strips of beef are tender enough to eat without looking like a chopstick flinging fool, and the broth is complexly spiced and as soothing as you're likely to find anywhere.
Order Pad Thai ($11-$14) for a moist, vinegary version or one of several other similarly priced stir fries. Keep in mind that it doesn't take long to overcook thin pork chops, which is exactly what happened when the kitchen lost its timing on our Vietnamese pork chops ($16), served with onion strings, though ours were topped with unadvertised tempura battered onion rings. The whole affair is staged on wasabi mashed potatoes -- mediocre at best because of their too-dry texture.
Siam shrimp ($18 for six large ones) means butterflied crustaceans nicely grilled in their shells atop a rainbow of crisp veggies. But, the dish also promises mai fun noodles and doesn't deliver them. And, the Thai basil sauce marrying the shrimp with the veggies is more like heavy Chinese brown sauce than the usual delicate Thai interpretations.
Up for dessert? You'll find most everything is fried starting with cheesecake all the way down the line to ice cream, bananas and Asian donuts, though it is possible to get a scoop of plain ice cream.
New restaurants like Zensai always manage to find new audiences. Whether they have what it takes to keep diners coming back is the age-old question.
Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.
Contact dining correspondent Judith Stocks at judithstocksreviews@yahoo.com or write to her in care of the Sun-Sentinel.