Multi Story Building

Everyone has a Zenzi story: remember when we bought a black and white photograph off the wall...when we drank free Tuesday night Cosmos... when the cute Matan bought us a drink... when we spotted Jesse Metcalfe at the bar... when we went home with a bevy of Brazilian models...

But of course you remember. You were there too.

Yes it’s back - after all the litigation and speculation and months of being shut, Bandra’s favourite bar finally reopened on Christmas Eve with promises of new interiors, super sushi and creative cocktails. A tall story that one turned out to be!

Inside Information

Intrigued by the new lunch slot, bpb went on a Sunday afternoon to find an eye sore of a skin clinic hoarding sitting on Zenzi’s head; an empty al fresco area that once housed the funnest part of the bar; and a new side entrance with a reception desk and some foliage.

Inside, the orange and grey space is minimal - in some places to the point of being depressingly bare – with a few random psychedelic paintings on the wall, and a small bar just opposite the entrance. They may have retained most of the furniture and wooden louvered doors, but the Zenzi vibe just isn’t there anymore. But Bandra natives would never let minor modifications get in the way memories. So we sucked it up and proceeded to order.

D(r)um Roll?

News feed: Zenzi’s new menu is mini, with just three starters and seven main course options. Oh wait, there’s a separate one for sushi too, but soon after scanning it you’ll wish it wasn’t there.  The Japanese rolls here – dedicated to Bandra, Tokyo, the Gateway – feature unusual (read strange) ingredients like mayo, chicken, paneer and pickled onions. We hesitantly went with the chicken teriyaki version, and picked prawn butter paper from the appetiser list (other options include veg tempura and paneer or chicken Satay).

The sushi arrived studded with absurdly big pieces of carrot, limp lettuce leaves and chicken. If we wanted a salad, we thought, we would have ordered one. Oh wait, they don’t have any. The prawns served with sweet-spicy sauce had nothing to do with butter paper, but was tasty none the less.

Entree and Exit

After entrees, we pinned our hopes on the beef and chicken Phad Thai. They looked promising but turned out to be cloyingly sweet. We washed down honey-tasting beef and sugary noodles that a friend is “hundred per cent sure” had ketchup as one of its ingredients with nicely made Mojitos, and concluded that the new Zenzi is probably better visited at night, when cocktails and cuties come out to play.

Choices for dessert included Christmas cake and a brownie; neither hit our sweet spot so we skipped our happy ending, paid a surprisingly hefty bill and walked out into the sunset. End of story.

Getting there: 183, opposite Subway, Waterfield Road, Bandra (W), call 66430670, Rs 3,000 for a meal for two, including two cocktails.

bpb reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for its own meals.