Zén @ Bukit Pasoh

This is a table that I have been trying to reserve for quite some. Finally I manage to squeeze in a dinner with Princess at this Michelin 3-Star restaurant in Bukit Pasoh.

Zén by celebrity chef Björn Frantzén of Frantzén fame opened is his third Asian venture in this pre-war shophouse (c. 1926), a space that used to be Restaurant André. An alumni of L’Arpège in Paris, Björn describes his recipes as Nordic informed by Japanese kaiseki sensibilities with a spritz of French technique.

After ringing the doorbell, we were led to a lounge on the ground floor of the building, where the meal soon commenced. Diners are offered an aperitif and amuse-bouche on the first floor (The Kitchen), before the eight-course neo-Nordic, seafood-heavy tasting menu with Japanese influences unfolds on the second floor (The Dining Room). And then the petit fours and after-dinner drinks happen on the third floor (The Living Room).

After its debut in 2018, Zén promptly got its first two stars in 2019, and then was elevated to three Michelin stars in 2021, making it one of only three restaurants in Singapore to have three stars. Fermented food is the leitmotif recurring in Swedish and Japanese diets, and this kitchen uses it occasionally to great effect.

Tor Aik Chua is the new co-Executive Chef of Zén Singapore, taking over from Tristin Farmer in 2024. He has been a big part of Zén since day one and hailed from Malaysia, adding cultural insight to both the team and the gastronomy. He will lead the team with co-Executive Chef Martin Öfner, coming straight from Frantzén with fresh eyes and a strong understanding of our DNA after all the years in Stockholm.

Food choices were simple: there weren’t any. Zén served just one fixed tasting menu to everyone.

The Kitchen

Coming to Zén is like homecoming for me as I used to stay in one of these shophouses in Geylang growing up. These are elongated apartments with the kitchen at one end, but due to our low seats, we could only catch glimpses of it.. The staircase on the side will lead you to the upper floors.

Cracker aged cheese & spices

Speckles of cumins placed strategically around the cheese cracker. The filling between the cracker is smoked egg yolk with aged cheese. Tasted like salted egg, nice first bite.

Tartlet beer poached crustacean & dill

Any amuse bouche with ikura (marinated salmon roe) is always good. These crunchy little flavour bombs make a dull canapé exciting. The cup is made from celeriac and the brined lobster is poached with beer, so it wasn’t a dull canapé. Bound together with a bit of finger lime. One bite.

Blini ‘Pelle Janzon’, wagyu & vendace roe

Named after the opera singer Pelle Janzon (1844-1889), it was supposedly his favourite dish. Reading up about this old classic, Zèn has luxe up their version with chopped wagyu dressed in a creamy wasabi beef tartare sauce topped with vendace roe (Kalix Löjrom) and chopped scallions with deep fried shallot served on a blini. (The original one consisted of thin slices of raw beef tenderloin, egg yolk, löjrom and finely chopped red onions on a piece of toast.)

Croustade manganji & fontina

Scandinavian version of the Nyonya kueh pie tee. Beer batter croustade with a medley of grilled Manganji Togarashi and wild broccoli charred over the embers and tossed with some salted pistachios after. Topped with an espuma made from Fontina, a semi-hard cow’s cheese from the Aosta Valley, Northern Italy, sprinkled with black truffle hachè and mustard greens and finished with a dash of lime. One big bite, a lot going on, I cannot describe simply what I was eating.

Vol-au-vent cep & galangal

Chef Martin came and presented this canapé to us. He called it a take on the French classic vol-au-vent cep (mushroom puff pastry) but made without baking. Puff pastry is made into a cup to contain portobello mushrooms is sautéed in red miso

The Dining Room

This is the second time I come to dine in The Dining Room on the second floor; the first time was Restaurant Andre was still here. It now sports a Scandinavian teak look, with modern art pieces and music from 80s blaring overhead.

I am pretty sure these are not originals, but I remember seeing something similar in Versailles when I was in France last Sep.

Crudo: Zén Réserve caviar, chutoro, argan oil, myoga

The first course is a sashimi course. Top grade caviar is paired with chutoro (medium fatty bluefin tuna belly, spiced with myoga (Japanese torch ginger) dressed with argan oil.

N25 Caviar, farmed in China and quality controlled in Germany, focuses on elegance and purity of flavour. The caviar’s aging process brings out a clean umami taste with a low-salt profile that truly shines.

Argan oil has a sweet, nutty flavour that’s similar to hazelnut. The caviar lends itself to the crudo with a perfect balance of savoury and umami flavours. And the best part is the chutoro, with its adequate fattiness and wonderful texture that simply melts in the mouth.

Chawanmushi, king crab, sea buckthorn, saffron, Bafun Uni

Next up, a chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) that contained poached and brined king crab and finished with fresh Bafun uni (sea urchin), both from Hokkaido. The unique ingredient? Saffron from Kyushu. No wonder the custard looked so bright. You would have thought chawanmushi would be served straight up, but it’s Zén – they have to finish the plating with the sea urchin, drops of sea buckthorn oil and sparkling of finely chopped dill at the table side.

It would pass off as Japanese if not for the dill and saffron. Sweetness from the seafood balanced with the sourness from the sea buckthorn, freshness from dill and. unique fragrance from saffron, this is a really good chawanmushi that you would not be making at home.

Onion, almond & liquorice

Next came a classic dish of Frantzén. It is an onion veloute made from Brittany Roscoff onion, Spanish marcona almond pieces, almond milk and its foam from almond oil, liquorice cream and Swedish liquorice powder.

Marcona almonds from Spain are a variety of almond that are round, short, and sweet, with a delicate texture. They taste like macadamia nuts but still have that distinctive almond flavour that I love. Roscoff onions, aka Brittany pink onions, are part of the lily family and come from a seed brought from Portugal to the Roscoff region by a monk in the mid-17th century. They are known for their sweet flavour and pink colour. 

The onion soup is one of the best I have tasted if not for the liquorice. Liquorice, particularly the salty variety known as “salmiak,” is a prominent feature in Swedish cuisine, with Swedes being among the highest consumers of liquorice candy per capita, often incorporating it into sweets, desserts, and even some savoury dishes, making it a very recognisable element of Swedish food culture.

Turbot, razor clam, yoghurt whey, artichoke barigoule, nori

This next course features a fish that I really like but couldn’t find many good examples in Singapore. Brittany turbot, line-caught along the coastline, is one of the favourite among fine dining restaurants in Europe. It is a very delicate fish which cannot be cooked on high heat, and does not transport well.

The fish is paired with Scottish razor clams and artichoke from Netherlands. An artichoke barigoule consists of stock, vinegar and generous amounts of citrus to prevent the artichokes from browning. The artichokes are cured, cooked and stored in this liqueur much like a pickling method. Yoghurt whey is that small fraction of liquid on top of yogurt. It is used to prepare the creamy sauce made with beurre blanc and artichoke liqueur. The whole plate is finished with nori (seaweed) infused citrus oil.

The artichoke is slightly grilled and plated with poached razor clams, with a sprinkling of edible chrysanthemum petals and sprigs of myoga (Japanese torch ginger.) The fish was cooked to perfection, the other time I had such great turbot was in Singapore was at Buona Terra, and this one was much fresher.

Grilled scallop, foie gras, fermented kampot, blackcurrant

The next course is hand-dived Scottish scallops grilled at table side with pan seared foie gras, roasted Marcona almonds and finished off with blackcurrant leaf oil.

Hand-dived scallops from Isle of Skye, Scotland are grown sustainably on the seabed fishery in Loch Sligachan and are diver-harvested. They are sought after for their firm texture and sweet, delicate flavour of shellfish.

This is my favourite course of the evening, two of my favourite ingredients (foie gras and scallops) in one plate. The tastes and flavours are on point, the pan seared foie gras was succulent, the scallops moist and full of umami. Only peeve, the plating was quite messy and full of earth colours. And this is also when you realised there’s no bread service. You wish at this point to have some baguette to mop up the sauces.

Before the steak course, we were presented with a box of knives for us to choose our tool for the next course. Originally crafted for Michelin-starred chef Mathias Dahlgren’s Matsalen at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, this steak knife brings unmatched elegance to the table setting.

There is a long tradition of knife making in Mora, Sweden. It features a polished, flat-ground knife blade crafted from premium Swedish stainless steel for razor-sharp precision, with an elegant handle made of Masur birch that sits comfortably in your hand.

A4 Yukimoro wagyu, kabu, wasabi, Gyoja Ninniku

And for the climax of the dinner, the main course features Yukimoro wagyu from Hokkaido. Yukimuro wagyu is a premium beef that’s aged using snow, a traditional Japanese technique called yukimuro – storage and snow aging method leveraging on power of nature that results in meat that is deliciously sweet and mellow that literally melt-in-your-mouth. Super tender and moist as oxygen breaks down the protein fibre which is free from amino acid. 

The ingredients for the main course are all from Japan – A4 wagyu from Niigata, Kabu (turnip) from Aomori, Gyoja Ninniku 行者葫 (Siberian onion) from Hokkaido, and wasabi from Kyoto. Gyōja-ninniku are wild harvested and extremely valuable in Japan. It has a pleasant garlic-like flavour.

The beef is accompanied by grilled gyoja ninniku topped with fresh mesclun salad. On its side, quenelle of mashed kabu with freshly grated wasabi as condiment for the beef.

No, that’s not bokchoy. It’s a Japanese wild vegetable called Gyoja Ninniku that has a garlicky flavour. And yes, it’s A4 and not A5 wagyu beef used in this course. Anything more marbled, you lose all the flavours of beef. IMHO, this level of marbling is just perfect.

French toast ‘Grande Tradition 2008’

In contrast to the humble origins of pain perdu, the traditional French toast dessert made from stale bread, Zén’s French Toast is a luxurious, savoury interpretation with truffle cream and balsamic vinegar.

It features sourdough bread stuffed with Cévennes onion, topped with Vacche Rosse cheese custard from the Emilia Romagna region, a drizzle of juniper berry balsamic vinegar from Modena, and finished with Périgord black truffle, shaved to the perfect thickness.

The dish was part of the opening menu at Frantzén, the sister restaurant of Zén in Stockholm which opened in 2008, hence the name “Grande Tradition 2008”.

It also comes with an eating instruction, which is to “engage with fingers, and finish in two bites.” The black truffle was not really tip top, but the truffle cream was spot on. I can’t imagine that this “French toast” is made with white truffle how amazing will it be.

Yuzu, coconut, finger lime, Junmai Daiginjo

Next up, palate cleanser before we go to dessert. The palate cleanser is a yuzu infused sake granita made from Junmai Daiginjo and yuzu oil, drizzled with coconut cream, and sprinkled with finger lime fruit for that zesty flavour.

Finger lime (Citrus australasica) is a native citrus prized for its unique caviar-like pulp and attractive colour, which can vary between yellow, green, pale pink and crimson. They were traditionally found in the sub-tropical rainforests of Northern NSW and Queensland, part of the Bundjalung language nation.

Salted carrot ice cream, hoshigaki & mikan, Jin Xuan oolong

The final course in the Dining Room, a dessert course that features a quenelle of salted carrot ice cream with a floral, zesty sauce made from mikan, Italian honeycomb and sea buckthorn vinegar. This carrot ice cream actually tastes like a Western carrot cake in ice cream form. But its centerstage position is overwhelmed by the rest of the ingredients that made up this dessert. 

Jin Xuan Oolong tea from Alishan, Taiwan, Vin de Paille straw wine from Jura in France, and Gyokuro shade grown green tea powder from Kyoto, Japan is married in a harmonious dessert with Japanese hoshigaki (dried persimmons) and mikan (mandarin orange) that is in season. Fukuoka Unshu mikans are seedless, easy to peel by hand, and known for their sweetness. 

The entire dessert is assembled in front of you at table side. The finished plating looks like a bonsai plant. As you scooped into it, you can taste the texture and flavours of each individual component.

Wines for the evening

The Living Room

The final installation after the dinner was served takes place on the third floor of the shophouse called the Living Room.

The music selection changed from the 70s to the 80s, my kind of music. Chef Björn is so particular about the atmosphere in his dining outlets that he personally curates their playlists. In Singapore it is the likes of Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana alongside boppy European indie pop. 

While waiting for the petit fours, I dozed off because I had too much to drink. I should have taken the offer for a shot of espresso but I did not want to spoil my bedtime that evening as I have had a period intense pressure at work.

Kinkan & vanilla, Ichigo & pinecone, Muskmelon & Manzanilla

At first I thought the Japanese fruits were served “as-is” like in all Japanese kaiseki. This being a French fine dining, the fruits are “enhanced” with additional flavours besides sweetness. The musk melon has been sprayed with some Manzanilla for a touch of floral fragrance. Manzanilla is a fortified wine from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain. The strawberry is topped with pickled pine nut flown in from Russia. The kinkan is infused with Madagascan vanilla. I would have been satisfied if they left the fruits alone.

The carbon footprint of this fruit platter is nothing to be proud of. Yama musk melon from Shizuoka, allegedly the best melons in the world in terms of sweetness and flavour; Kinkan and Amaou ichigo from Fukuoka. Often called the “king” of strawberries in Japan, Amaou is characterized by its large size fruit compared to other varieties. Like other Japanese New Year foods, kinkan has a symbolic meaning that involves wordplay. Kinkan (金柑 “kumquat”) is a homonym of kinkan (金冠), or “golden crown.”

Jello sea buckthorn & mango, Marshmallow Lapsang Souchong

This was a the third time I heard sea buckthorn this evening. The last time I had so much sea buckthorn was at fellow Asia 50 Best restaurant, Ensue in Shenzhen. The gum had mango and sea buckthorn but I could not taste which is which. Lapsang Souchong 正山小种 is what we used to call a Hokkien tea that was widely exported to the West as a black tea. The marshmallow has a faint taste and fragrance that is unique to the tea.

Fudge black garlic, Macaron pistachio & matcha

I thought it was a truffle, but it turned out to be black garlic with a chocolate fudge casing. I never would have imagined black garlic to be used in a dessert in this way. Macaron wasn’t my thing, so Princess took both.

Madeleines cardamom & miso

Because we are celebrating Princess’ birthday, they got us a donut birthday cake. But what I really enjoyed was their madeleine with a miso glaze. They are presented on a bed of fine sugar, which I suggest you coat the madeleine with it. The result is a sweet and slightly salty bite of comfort.

Wow! I heard so much about this interactive experience, we were not disappointed. The food was amazing and the service was the best. Friendly staff with a lot of humour, there wasn’t any dull moment for our dinner.

Almost every course was finished at table side, which is very rare among the fine dining restaurants. But given that the food experience was spread across three floors, there’s too many places where the plating can cock-up. So it makes sense for the table side presentation.

I might have spent someone’s monthly pay in one night with dinner at $580++ per person, excluding the drinks. The ingredients are not that easy to get, and the shopping list looks like a trip around the world. There’s nothing from the nearby Smith Street market (where I do my grocery shopping). But it is not possible to assemble any better course; it’s totally worth it given the whole experience.

Great service by Polly, Amber, Sean, Sally, Reuben, Jared, Dylan and team (sorry if I missed out any one). We had a night to remember and the A4 beef and French toast were standouts! And among all the 3 Stars I have been to in Asia, this would be the best so far (except maybe for the original Joël Robuchon that got 3 Stars in the augural Singapore edition but has closed since 2018.)

Zén
41 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore 089855
Tel : +65 9236 6368 (Reservations)

Visited Feb 2025

Michelin Singapore Guide 3 Stars 2021-24, 2 Stars 2019