Nestled in the lux, wide paved streets of Chelsea, a short hop from South Kensington tube station, nestles a little gem of a spot. Zheng is the sister restaurant of its much loved mother restaurant in Oxford, and has thus far proved an equal hit. Named after the 15th century Chinese Admiral Zheng who explored much of the ancient world, including Malacca state in Malaysia, it specialises in fine Malay cuisine. Since it open it has been reviewed positively by the likes of Giles Coren, Fay Maschler and Andy Hayler, and as of last week….little old me!
I went down on what feels like one of the last of our warm, sunny days to check out its lunch offering. Its unassuming street front belies the smart, modern dining room within, spread over two floors. There's a set lunch menu at a reasonably £21.90 for three courses, or a wider a la carte menu spanning the breadth of Malaysian cuisine. Malaysian cuisine is actually quite difficult to define; it's a country with three major ethnic communities, each bringing their own nuances of flavour and tradition, and Zheng's does a good job at spanning these.
Rather than navigate these ham fistedly myself, I asked our host simple to 'feed me'. I love eating like this when I go out to diner; nobody knows the menu better than those behind it and…well, it's an exciting way to eat, isn't it. First up, a starter platter of satay chicken skewers, sesame prawn on toast, salt & pepper squid, vegetarian spring rolls & seaweed salad. The satay chicken was excellent and the squid coating had great flavour, with the right balance of salt and spice. Seaweed salad is seaweed salad and much of a muchness wherever you get it from, but I enjoyed it.
Mains began with the best chicken rendang I've ever eaten. The chicken must have been brined, or soaked in yoghurt, first because it was insanely moist. The rendang sauce was balanced and the whole thing just sang. Worth a visit back for this alone. I also tried their beef stir fried with aubergine, garlic & soy sauce, which pleased well enough without blowing my mind like the chicken had, alongside excellently flavoured coconut rice and crispy fried chili king prawns. The prawns were big, fat juicy slugs, cased in crispy and light batter that got wolfed down in about 10 seconds. Great.
Dessert was impossible at this stage and so I settled into a strong cocktail instead, trying their Chameleon Gimlet. This was a curious drink – a classic gin gimlet, where when a shot of something (lime, I think) was added, changed colour from grey to pink! Very cool.
All in all, I really liked Zheng and would definitely come back next time I'm looking for slightly fancy Malaysian cuisine. It's a more elegant option than some of my favourites in China Town, but doesn't compromise on flavour, authenticity or, indeed, price. Give it a try, folks.
4 Sydney St, Chelsea, London SW3 6PP
