Review: Zun Express Restaurant @ The Gardens

**Non-Halal**


We always patronise Zun Kitchenette but up till now we have never stepped into Zun Express Restaurant at The Gardens until last week. You won't miss Zun Express as it's just next to Eu Yan Sang as expected since both Zun restaurants are under Eu Yan Sang's umbrella.

Even though we were there for an early lunch but the restaurant was already packed to the brim. There was a short queue but luckily it moved fast and we placed our order quickly. As compared with Zun Kitchenette, Zun Express does really lived up to it's name literally. Service is quick and prompt here. Turn over of customers are rather fast so that more people could patronise especially during peak hours.

Since Chinese New Year is round the corner, they have this Lap Mei Farn set at RM19.80 that comes with a double-boiled soup, mixed waxed meat rice, and a dessert of the day. Capt'n Hook had this set. There was a choice of 2 double-boiled soup and he picked a Yuk Chuk Chicken soup. A clear broth with a nice natural sweetness of the chicken and herbs.



Capt'n Hook gave top marks for the waxed meat rice! The glutinous rice is soft enough but yet retained it's fluffiness and chewiness. You can see the grains are whole and separated instead of one lump of soft mess. Very flavourful indeed especially with the lap yuk (waxed pork belly), lap cheung (Chinese sausage), and yoon cheung (liver sausage). I can't remember if there is any waxed duck.



The dessert served on that day was Pumpkin Soup. I had a few sips and oh my, I can clearly taste it's made purely from pumpkin with little or no sugar at all! There were a few slices of lily bulbs for some crunch. It's light, fabulous end to a heavy meal.



I reckoned this set will only be available during Chinese New Year season. If you really do like lap mei farn, do give this place a try. On our way out, I checked the menu for the individual prices for the soup which is RM10 and dessert was RM6! Value for money or what? You tell me!

As for myself, I went for Shrimp Wantan Noodle in Soup (RM10). Well to be honest, this noodle paled in comparison with the rice kekeke cos the rice came first and I tasted a bit of it before my noodle arrive. As you would know, Zun doesn't use MSG in their cooking hence the soup is kinda "ching" (clear). Well, I don't really mind as the huge shrimp wantans which I've lost count of the number did made up for it. What I liked is there are quite a number of pieces of carrots, mushrooms and xiu bak choy.



I had wanted the hot chrysanthemum tea but it wasn't available yet. The only hot drink at that time was Lemon with Longan Honey (RM5) which is equally good. They did not scrimp on the amount of honey I would say.



5% service charge and 6% Government tax were charged and our total bill came up to RM38.65. No wonder this place is packed and popular during lunch hour for service is quick and prices to me seems reasonable for the quality of herbs used in the soups.

By the way, if you're not aware, Eu Yan Sang had pledged that they would only sell genuine and good quality products. It's something that the family have uphold since their business had started generations ago. The family had published a book and it's stated in this book about this pledge. I guess everyone could buy items especially herbs "tanpa was-was" (Malay for without hesitation) at Eu Yan Sang.


Zun Express Restaurant
Lot LG-231, Lower Ground Floor,
The Gardens,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2283 3178