Zazza Trattoria & Pizzeria (2006-12-29)
On its web page, Zazza says "The concept of this restaurant is “Naples” which is Salvatore Cuomo’s origin. There is pre-fix menu that would be cooked with the best ingredients of the day from the market. You will enjoy dinning there with rhythmical and casual Napoli Classico Cuisine and tastes from World Champions." Situated inside the posh Omotesando (
)Hills
building, it is an upscale eatery with an affordable price tag by Tokyo
standard.The restaurant is quite big--also by Tokyo standard--although the
tables are still packed pretty tightly together. The interior is
bright, modern and clean. KL and I went for their lunch buffet
which comprises of all-you-can-eat hot and cold appetizers plus a main
course of your choice. There's also tea/coffee and dessert to
follow, all for 2300Yen (US$20).
The appetizers were alright, most of them passable, not great.
I said "most of them" because one chicken dish with sliced chicken
breast topped with a cream sauce was very tough and dry. If you don't
have good teeth, bypass the dish. A baby octopus marinade-type
salad was also not my thing. I found it fishy and lack of a
zing. I did like a baked eggy dish with fluffy whipped egg white
on top. It was quite good. They don't post names of the
appetizers on the buffet table so I can't tell you exactly what I
ate. I picked my choices mainly by the colorfulness of the dishes
which had ingredients I recognized. I didn't try a dark and
brown baked cheesy dish, didn't know what's in it and didn't want to
waste
food if I didn't like it and I don't like cheese that does not appear
on pizza anyway.
Of the list of six main courses, we both picked the same one:
Sauteed Free Range Chicken with Vinaigrette Sauce. The small
piece (I was guessing may be half of a thigh meat) of chicken came
artfully arranged on a plate the size of Texas. I guess
high-end restaurants prefer gigantic plates and bowls, it's the trend
ya
know.
The tasty chicken morsel was seared to a crispy skinned goodness
that was surrounded by
a few boiled edamame (fresh soy beans), two roasted
cherry tomato halves, half of a boiled small potato and a
single super skinny asparagus, all resting on a scant drizzle of
sauce. My taste buds must be off that day because I couldn't
taste any "Vinaigrette" flavor at all. Or maybe there simply
wasn't enough there for me to pick up any vinaigretty taste before it
was mopped dry.
Dessert was Tea Chiffon Cake with a dollop of cream and drizzle of custard sauce topped with one blueberry and one raspberry. I am not one to judge dessert as I don't like most of it (Yeah, I am weird. I know), but I'll have to say that the cake was super super light and fluffy with just a hint of sweetness; it was really good. I didn't eat the creamy stuff which you're supposed to, but I guess the cream and custard sauce would've added the right amount of sweetness to the cake. I still enjoyed the cake by itself very much though.
Zazza Trattoria & Pizzeria
Omotesando Hills 3rd floor
http://www.ystable.co.jp/restaurant/zazza/index.html
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