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Shop, stop, eat
Chi’zen at the Mall of the Emirates lures shoppers with its competitively set menu: enjoy value-for-money Cantonese in fine dining atmospherics
Two confesS- ions any shopaholic will easily reveal: Shopping gets you low on the wallet (duh!). Shopping also makes you hungry. How do you reconcile the two and come up with a win-win situation?
Chi’Zen, the Cantonese Chinese contemporary restaurant at the Mall of the Emirates, could well have a decent answer for you.
Okay, there’s always the (practical) mall food court that serves value-for-money fare for hungry shoppers. But with Chi’Zen you get to bask in fine-dining atmospherics, have a big bite for rather less, and feel like you’ve just slipped into a tranquil oasis in the midst of frantic consumerism.
Unfortunately, the restaurant is not very conspicuous (tucked away in the Pullman Hotel-MoE link) for the afternoon mall crawlers, and you may have to “seek it out”. Turns out it’s well worth the mapping exercise.
Presently, there is the Special Lunch Set Menu (other than the regular à la carte menu) being bandied about between 12 noon and 4pm. You can opt for either the 3-course or 2-course meal; the beverage (carbonated soft drinks) is a given.
The menu is divided into three sections, choose any one from various options: starter, main course and dessert. BBQ Chicken Bun, Hot and Sour Soup, Wok-Fried Veggies in Lettuce make up the first segment; Singapore Noodles, Vegetable Fried Rice, Beef Sa Cha with Steamed Rice, and Sweet & Sour Chicken with Steamed Rice comprise the second; for just desserts, it’s a toss-up between a Fresh Fruit Platter and a selection of ice-cream.
So, you can either have two of the three segments — for Dh45 per person — or all three — for Dh69.
Chi’Zen boasts of Hong Kong-style Oriental finesse, with a lot of reds, blacks and golds splashed around. The house staffers are gracious and hospitable, and we are seated with minimum fuss.
Being fairly unadventurous eaters, we opt to kickstart with the soup, that is spicy and tangy, and fills you up rather quickly. Next up is the sweet and sour chicken, tasty alright but a bit too sweet (at least for me) and slightly dry to go with plain steamed rice. The gratifying upshot is that it lies lightly on the stomach.
There are smiles all around when the Fresh Fruit Platter is presented — crammed with delicious tropical fruits, delivering a perfect health kick.
My lovely luncheon companion, who insisted on ordering ‘same-same’ with me through starters and the main course, deviates on the final front and pitches for some yummy, creamy ice-cream, and wraps up lunch with a way bigger burden of guilt than me.
In 7 words: Contemporary, cutting-edge restaurant serving traditional Cantonese fare
What we liked: Great atmosphere, quick service
What we didn’t like: Sweet & Sour chicken being more sweet than sour
Restaurant best for: Foodies and shoppers
Cost for two: Dh140
Did you know: Cantonese cuisine comes from Guangdong Province in southern China
Contact: Chi’Zen, Mall of the Emirates, Al Barsha, 04-3549288
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