Fay Maschler reviews Zheng: The food of legend in Chelsea

You should go for Malaysian cooking of this calibre, says Fay Maschler
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Fay Maschler21 November 2017

Reading the legend of the Chinese Admiral Zheng He that prefaces the menu at this new South-East Asian restaurant in South Ken, I am brought up short by the following: “Born in Kunyang, Yunnan, in the late 14th century… when he was just 10 years old his homeland was invaded. Zheng He was taken prisoner and made into a palace eunuch. As he grew into manhood…” Maybe it was reversible in those days, like vasectomies sometimes are now.

I’ll leave you to go to Zheng the restaurant to read the rest of the story because go you should for Malaysian cooking of this calibre — but just touch on the fact that some historians believe Zheng He discovered America before Christopher Columbus.

The first Zheng in Oxford was given a rave review by a chap who, as he might put it, writes for an important national newspaper — compared with this “local rag” (his description), where sometimes he evidently finds inspiration for where to eat out in London. It seems the original Zheng, owned by husband and wife, manager and chef, Adam Abdullah and Izlinda Baharom, is a fairly simple place.

The Chelsea incarnation, replacing Brasserie Gustave, which I am really sad to see go — M Macron on his UK visits would have liked it, I think — is a smart affair done out in dark wood, mirrors, orchids, velvet upholstery and hand-printed wallpaper. The bare tables with a silky finish that comes clean almost magically are from Denmark, we are told.

A smart affair: the west London incarnation of Zheng in what used to be Brasserie Gustave 
Matt Writtle

A Friday evening dinner for two is slightly glum, with hardly any customers and waiting staff left to patrol the dining space like wardens looking for illegally parked cars. On a Saturday night the joint is jumping and I take the precaution of ensuring my own fun — a good tip this — by taking with me, Reg and two jolly friends, the better to test the menu you understand, but also a hedge against the red-trousered Chelsea set.

Chilli salt and pepper, a mode of preparation applied to five different ingredients, works beautifully for squid, as anticipated, but also for light crisp cubes of aubergine which, oddly but gratifyingly, have a lilt of sweetness. Do you know about Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise? You can get it at The Japan Centre or from Sous Chef or, indeed, via Amazon. It is how salad cream would have ended up had it gone East, a beguiling condiment for British palates and, I suspect, part of the reason we scrap over the last piece of Zheng’s seafood roll.

Tomato egg drop soup is a change of tempo but comes across as scrambled egg in feeble stock. Ironically, it lends credence to the info in the publicity that chef Izlinda learned to cook at her grandmother’s knee. It is the sort of tentative broth that you might produce for someone who is ill at home.

Fresh seaweed salad is a squeaky-clean mound of green iodine goodness topped with edamame beans and sesame seeds that offsets friskily fried boneless chicken stir-fried with dried chillies, cashew nuts and Szechuan pepper — just enough to leave a tingle on the lips.

Fay Maschler's 50 favourite restaurants in London

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Roast duck is luscious. A quarter at £12.90 among an array of dishes satisfies four, even if it does leave us wanting more. I like the fact that asam pedas — fish fillets in a spicy herby gravy — doesn’t seem like a typical restaurant offering. It makes no great effort with presentation and cajoles subtly. In its modest way chai pu tofu also delights. Freshly made golden fried beancurd, like a Tempur mattress, supports a topping of dried radish, chilli and spring onions. It offers a textural change of impact too.

A dish I always order in Malaysian restaurants is char kuey teow, a Penang hawker assembly for which the word umami might have been invented. Here it is simply garnished with eggs, prawns (lots of them) and the green of spring onions and served with sambal (hot sauce) on the side.

Just to be thorough, we also try nasi lemak where the coconut rice, egg, cucumber, fried anchovies and peanuts are accompanied by punchy rendang chicken, a gathering apparently loved by Malaysians for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m with them there.

The two chaps want toffee apples. We look at them pityingly but the pieces of fruit are expertly shellacked — and fortunately there are enough to go round plus ice cream on the side.

A Provençal rosé, Terre de Berne, with that beauteous onionskin colour, at £29.50 is a satisfactory wine accompaniment. This is probably not the moment — or the menu — to order Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru Gagnard-Delagrange (no vintage given) offered for £230.

The bill arrives in a red lacquer box decorated with Chinese calligraphy. Perhaps it’s a message from Admiral He. On the side is the trademark Linley. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Jericho any more.

4 Sydney Street, SW3 (020 7352 0957, zhengchelsea.co.uk). Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm (closed Tues lunch) and 5.30pm-11pm. Sat noon-11pm. Sun 11am-10pm. “The Chef’s Choice” from £24.90. A la carte, a meal for two with wine, about £120 including 12.5 per cent service.

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