Now Open: Zazu Dining & Bar Is the New West End Restaurant Serving Up Gillian Hirst's Sand Crab Lasagne
West Village's latest eatery heroes pan-Asian and modern European fare, and pours a negroni topped with pineapple foam, crushed chocolate and crushed honeycomb.
Is sand crab lasagne Queensland's most famous dish? Since the early 90s, when Gillian Hirst put it on the menu at the now-closed Il Centro on Eagle Street, the seafood spin on an Italian staple has been a firm Sunshine State favourite. Your latest spot to tuck in: West Village in West End, which has added both Zazu Dining & Bar and Hirst's lasagne to its ever-growing culinary offering.
Already home to Ippin Japanese Dining, Italian Street Kitchen, Yamas Greek + Drink, Picnic Cafe, Kurtosh, Anita Gelato, Nodo Donuts, Beirut Bazaar and more — with Rich & Rare on the way, too — the Boundary Street precinct has welcomed this newcomer on the corner of Mollison Park. Zazu Dining & Bar's menu heroes pan-Asian and modern European fare, which means tucking into tiger prawn cone spring rolls, Balkan-style beef and pork kebabs, six types of oval-shaped pizza and three kinds of dumplings, as well as bao, carpaccio and chicken karaage.
Other Zazu Dining & Bar highlights include oysters with creme fraiche or pickled jalapeno and chilli floss, crispy duck pancakes, glazed pork hock pancakes and a one-kilogram slow-cooked lamb shoulder. And the lasagne? It comes in a 500-gram serving with abalone cream and black caviar, and is recommended to be shared.
The dessert lineup dishes up vanilla cheesecake, sorbet and chocolate fondant — and there's no shortage of indulgences on the cocktail roster. Three daiquiris (strawberry, mango and passionfruit) sit alongside six martinis (classic, French, espresso, spiced rum espresso, passionfruit and pink lychee), three negronis (classic, silver and cloud) and five margaritas (classic, chilli, strawberry, flamingo and Tommy's), for starters. Wondering what a cloud negroni is? It's topped with pineapple foam, crushed chocolate and crushed honeycomb.
From there, you can also sip whisky sours, old fashioneds, mojitos, cosmopolitans and more. A number of the cocktails also come in mini versions if you're only after a smaller beverage. A hefty 90-plus-option wine menu, an array of spirits and beers, and also mocktails round out the drinks list — with the vino choices on the eye-catching wine wall spanning the globe but also favouring Australian drops.
Design-wise, Zazu Dining & Bar's look is sleek, featuring glass, black, grey and greenery aplenty. Mood is a big focus here, with noise and lighting sensors to help. And, if you've got an occasion to celebrate, the venue also includes a sunken private dining room and a mezzanine function space.
Find Zazu Dining & Bar at West Village, 97 Boundary Street, West End — open from 11.30am–late Monday–Sunday.
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