Zen Sai
our comments
During the day, Camden's Inverness Street is a short but bustling stretch of market stalls that sell reasonably priced fruit and veg to the locals and cheap tat to the tourists. At night, its dubious selection of restaurants, bars and clubs come alive. It's always been a mix of the good, the bad and the gastronomic disaster; so when my friend and I visited Zen Sai , we arrived with empty stomachs and low expectations.
First impressions were not good. The venue, which was completely empty, might look respectably slick at night but the daylight highlighted dirty mirrors, chipped paint and mismatched chairs. (How hard is it to get hold of matching chairs?) The water feature, complete with statues of Buddha, looked good on their website but less impressive in reality - a bit like a grubby tiled bathroom wall. The whole place needs a bit more money thrown at it before it can call itself stylish but, given that half of Camden could do with a clean up, it's not a bad effort.
"Maybe we're supposed to be drunk," my friend mused, leafing through the drinks menu and pointing out the Happy Hour deals. It might not be a bad place to start an evening though, as the cocktails are very good. The Lemongrass Chimera - a cross between a mojito and a Caipirinha - was muddled with lemongrass and coriander to give the classics a fresh, citrus twist. The drinks menu boasts an impressive selection of spirits infused with oriental ingredients, as well as sake-based cocktails, but there was no wine. Our waitress explained that they were reworking the wine list that day and could only offer a Riesling, which we politely declined.
When the food arrived, we were pleasantly surprised. A generous portion of chicken satay had a smoky, chargrilled flavour and the gyoza were fresh and piping hot, with a tasty minced chicken and spring onion filling. Pork and prawn dim sum were less successful, as the wrappers were to hard to be chewed, but they were still fresh and certainly contained real prawns. The winning dish was the pumpkin and chickpea curry - juicy chunks of pumpkin and plenty of chickpeas in a sweet and spicy curry sauce. The hot roti breads served with it were perfect for dipping and so addictive we ordered more. Four dishes and two cocktails came to under £30, which is very good value - especially in Zone 1.
A month later, on an unfeasibly hot day, I found myself wading through the Sunday crowds with hunger driving me slowly demented. Wisely ignoring the wailing noodle stands, I parked myself outside Zen Sai and happily worked my way through the familiar pumpkin curry and a portion of the gyoza with lemon ponzu dipping sauce. The Mango Tree cocktail - Jack Daniels shaken with lime, mango and passion fruit juice - was sweet and refreshing with a welcome whiskey kick. Overall: cheap, satisfying and just what I needed.
It's not a destination restaurant, but you can certainly eat far worse food at much higher prices in Camden. For cocktails and trendy pan-Asian snacks before a night out in NW1, Zen Sai is a great choice.
K.P. - July 2008
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
we booked because of the reviews we read. We were however very disappointed. We had booked a table for 8.30pm but it was not in the main upstairs restaurant so we decided to wait for a better table. We were told about 1/2 an hour so ordered drinks at the bar. We eventually sat to eat at 10.30pm after having kept asking when out table would be ready! The food was not hot or of good quality and the service was poor. The waitresses cleared the table beore everyone had finished, even taking a wine glass that was half full. We would not eat here again or recommend to others.
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Overall rating 
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Sunday, April 27, 2008
I had a dinner party here with a group of friends, some who are vegetarian and we had a great meal. The ambiance and decor are fab and the staff so friendly. I had several starters all scrumptious loved the thai fish cakes and dim sum, then went on to have thai green curry. I also picked at my friends sweet and sour chicken, it seemed everything on the menu was delicious!
Ive been back a few times and have never been dissapointed! oh yes and i loved the cocktails.
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Juicy M - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
great bar / restaurant in camden ,friday nights the best with a great funk d.j.we tried a few too many of the wide variety of cocktails there and we weren't dissapointed once.food is a mix of thai,malay,chinese and japanese . all our dishes where great and really good value.nice staff too,mainly asian and looking great in there chinese dresses
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drella - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
probably found the best overall venue in camden,zensai has it all.we booked a table for my friends birthday on saturday,all 6 of us loved it.the entrance is stunning with a huge mirror ball reflecting light over the walls .we were seated in the upstairs restaurant and ordered a terrific selection of cocktails,pink panties & stevie wonder where our faves.food was great ,I had chicken satay and then a sizzling beef steak,which is finished off at the table on a hot plate by the waitress. all the staff where really helpful and friendly.after dinner we went down to the bar and club area ,which was very vibrant and busy,great d.j playing old skool funk & hip hop.a few more cocktails later we were dancing the night away til 2 a.m.what was really suprising is at the end of the night when staff thanked us all and bid us goodnight on the way out,very pleasent
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sean p
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 12, 2007
Quite possibly the worst meal I have had in years. The sushi was off the menu ( probably just as well on the basis of what was to follow) We tried soft shell crab and Chicken Yakitoi. The soft shell crab was adequate but very dry. The Chicken yakitori was unlike any Japanese Yakitori I have ever tasted. It appeared to be skewers of chicken, basted in a Uncle Bens sweet & sour sauce. Simply awful and wrong. Unfortunately the meal went downhill from there. The Laksa bore no relation what-so-ever to a Laksa. Ince again some sort of basting sauce or powder had been used- in the case Curry. It was brown, sour, tasted of curry and had Chinese noodles in it. In fairness to the restuarant they do remove the cost of this from the bill. The pad thai was edible, but the sezchauan Chilli chicken had the same Uncle bens style sauce as the chicken " yakitori" this time with a hanful of chillis added. simple revolting.
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Wayno
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Friday, March 10, 2006
