Fusion or confusion?
First up, I have to say that the food at The Zenith is pretty good, and I'll come to that in a minute. But if you're looking for Asian fusion, I'm not sure you'll find it here, and there's not a lot of the contemporary in evidence either. The decor is unremarkable and neither ancient nor modern; a somewhat dog-eared menu was 1970s Chinese restaurant retro; and the food could have been "mid-century modern".
The term "fusion food" covers a multitude of sins but, as a working definition, let's just say that it is the combination of various forms of regional or national cookery into a single eating experience. There are those who have complained that fusion often combines too many things and confuses ingredients with flavour. It's also been called "Lego cookery" which combines components without care. Nonetheless, we are fortunate here in Perth to have some very good exponents of fusion food: kataifi pastry king prawns with tamarind and chilli jam at Red Opium, for example, is a masterly combination of Middle Eastern and Thai; pork belly with kim chi, spring onion, cucumber, hoi sin with sesame oil and chilli at Chilli Orange is a stunning melange of Asian flavours. So, just having mainland Chinese dishes, Hong Kong dishes and Malay dishes on the same menu is no justification, in my view, for calling it contemporary Asian or, if you like, Asian fusion: it's basically what Asian restaurants in Perth (and elsewhere for that matter) have been doing almost forever. Which was a bit of a let-down given what we were expecting.
But as I said, the food is pretty good. While baozi are generally eaten for breakfast or lunch, it was nice to be able to kick off a meal with steamed pork buns ($6) at 7.30 in the evening. Encased in dough with the texture of a slightly dense, but fine soft bread, the filling was tender and sweet. Fried king prawns ($12) were plump, precisely cooked and immured in a satin- smooth, impossibly crisp batter. The ingredient list for the honey chicken ($16.80) was quite impressive - red wine vinegar, sugar, honey, ginger and a dash of custard powder - but despite this, it was, if anything, a bit one- dimensional.
The stand-outs, however, were the Shanghai beef ($16.80) and we'd go back just for the chicken with salted fish fried rice ($12.80). The chef would not divulge the secret but the beef had a tissue paper-thin coating of what seemed like brittle caramel, lightly coated with a tart, tangy, zesty sauce. The rice, satisfyingly laced with a very generous quantity of salt fish, is possibly the best in town.
Desserts ($7-$11.50) are the usual offerings found in most Asian restaurants, although you can have a liqueur poured on any of the ice-cream options.
The wine list is small - four fizz, 10 whites and 10 reds - safe, fairly well chosen. The 10 wines by the glass at $7.50-$9 are more than reasonable. Service on a quiet night was competent and unobtrusive.
The Zenith Contemporary Asian *
Address * 209 Oxford Street, Leederville
Phone * 9443 8888
Open * Seven days, 11am-2.30pm; 5pm-9.30pm
The buzz * Billed as contemporary Asian, we didn't find much evidence of it - fusion confusion perhaps? But as Chinese food goes, it was pretty good, particularly being able to have dim sum as a starter.
13/20
