Every few months, Richard Sandoval’s Zengo, develops a seasonal menu that pays homage to one Latin and one Asian country around the world. The popular restaurant creates this ‘Test Kitchen’ menu by bringing together the teams of chefs from all Zengo locations to work on fusing together Latin-Asian cuisine and creating delicious recipes.
Zengo of course has a year round menu full of all your favorite dishes, but four times a year, switches out the ‘Test Kitchen’ dishes. Now through December, Zengo will be offering some amazing Peru and Malaysian fare as part of their ‘Test Kitchen’ menu. The menu includes cocktails, appetizers, entrees and even a dessert. Let’s walk you through it.
Start off with your choice of two new hand-crafted cocktails, including the Shiso Mojito ($14), made with rum, shiso, citrus and fuji apples, or the Pisco Elevation ($13), made with pisco, elderflower liquor and lychee. Between the two, I definitely favored the mojito, which had the perfect blend of ingredients. I thought the Pisco Elevation was a little too sweet for my taste, but I know others loved it.
There are three new appetizers that come as part of this season’s ‘Test Kitchen’ menu and they are all winners. The Spicy Crab Potato Sushi ($10), which includes avocado, malay curry, crispy corn cancha and soft yukon potato, was a real stand out. This small dish packed a punch with all of its flavors commingling perfectly together. The Chichen ‘A La Brasa’ Satay ($13), comes with a black bean glaze, cucumber rocoto salsa, toasted peanuts and potatoes huancaina. The chicken could not be more tender and juicy, making it very enjoyable to eat, and the potatoes underneath the chicken were crispy and delicious. Last of the appetizers was the Arroz con Mariscos ($14), comprised of mussels, scallops, calamari, shrimp over Malay rice with yellow curry and thai basil. This dish was like a Latin-Asian version of paella, with powerful spices and plenty of seafood. This dish is the perfect accompaniment to the entree.
Although there is only one new entree added to the menu, we guarantee it’s the only one you need. The Char Roasted Skate ($28) comes in a ginger marinade served with crispy lentil rice cake and sambal butter sauce. The skate was cooked to perfect, moist and delicate, and tasted like butter. We had to have seconds! The lentil cake was also tasty; yum!
We finished the evening with Profiteroles ($9), which are cream puffs filled with coconut ice cream, manjar blanco and covered in chocolate sauce. These really topped off the evening and left everyone very happy.
The great thing about Zengo is that you can continually come back and try new things, thanks to their seasonal menu. However, if you’re a creature of habit, the rest of the menu is the way to go. Come and check out this season’s ‘Test Kitchen’ menu while you can!
Zengo is located at 622 Third Avenue.
