Asian street food at Zozo

zozo

Cuisine: Asian street food

Address: 113 The Strand, Tauranga

Phone: 07 5790909

Website

Drinks: wine, beer, etc

Reservations: sometimes, for dinner

 

Zozo started life two or three years back as Viet de Cuisine, a modern Vietnamese restaurant which I think slightly confused people with the obvious inclusion of more French-influenced Vietnamese food on the menu. France had a big influence on the nation's food - particularly obvious in the love of baguettes - but the mix of French and Vietnamese flavours was possibly a little strange for Tauranga.

 

So the restaurant sensibly re-established itself as serving "Asian Street Food". There's still a primary fous on Vietnam (the phos and other things stayed) but now they draw from Chinese, Thai and other cultures as well and have left behind the Gallic influence.

 

The menu is split into Small and Large plates, with extra sections for rice and noodle dishes and salads. There is an extra menu of "Tauranga Specials" which I'm guessing might have emerged from the recent Taste Tauranga event. Three of us called in for an early midweek dinner and decided to just check out the Small Plates for maximum sharing variety.

 

Actually, it was a flawed approach. We probably should have ordered a salad instead of something for a more rounded meal. And the minute I saw noodles going to tables I felt like those. But despite its lack of balance, everything we had was great to eat and quite interesting. And I thought it was pretty fairly priced.

 

• Summer Rolls (4pcs) - Fresh rolls, prawn, pork, peanut, herbs, “nuoc cham” $9.00
• Crispy Aubergine (V)(G) - Crumbed eggplants, shiso, garlic, honey sauce $9.00
• Chicken Skewers - Chicken thigh, kaffir lime, shallot, chili sauce $12.00
• Popping Prawns (G) - Dill, kaffir, curry leaves, chili powder, crumbed, peanut sauce $15.00
• Pork Rib Garlic - Oven baked, dry chili, special sauce $18.00
• Popcorn Chicken - $15 

clockwise from top left: Chicken Skewers, Pork Rib, Popcorn Chicken, Popping Shrimp, Summer Rolls, Crispy Aubergine

A few observations: 

• The summer rolls are very good, fresh bright and clean with the accompanying zing of nuoc cham. It's a great dipping sauce. 
• The crispy aubergines are a real winner. I'm not sure which tradition they come from but they are like little crackers, quite a different texture from the deep fried eggplant at Macau or elsewhere. They were a BIG hit. 
• The chicken skewers were moist and delicious. The chili sauce with them was a shriracha.
• The pork rib was moist if not very garlicky. The sauce leaned towards a Singaporean chili/garlic sauce.
• The chicken popcorn came from the "Tauranga Specials" menu and was unusual: Chicken, coated with a dust of what seemed to be ground roasted rice and some anchovy element. It was very slightly fishy/salty and very enjoyable.
• The Popping Prawns knocked me out - the prawns themselves were coated in a crisp batter, but it was mainly the "sprinkle" of deep fried ingredients (Dill, kaffir, curry leaves, chili powder) scattered over the top and the Thai satay sauce that lifted it. Excellent!

As far as where it sits in the Tauranga restaurant scene, Zozo is interesting. It is clearly not an "authentic" traditional Asian restaurant in the sense of Dumpling Delight or Sichuan Style. Nor is it the full "Modern Pan-Asian" restaurant in the style of Macau. Instead it sits somewhere in between with dishes like its pho soups very straight and other dishes adding left-field touches. It's a bit of a balancing act and from what we ate they make a very good job of it. Oh, and I should mention that the service was helpful and friendly. 

 

(ONE LITTLE FINAL NOTE: the drinks list is rudimentary, with a mixture of apparently randomly chosen wine. No Gewurztraminer which would go really well with the food. They also have some cocktails which I wish I'd tried, because a couple sound impressively weird. On another trip I will definitely sample a Zozo Daiquiri which includes amongst the regular ingredients both orange juice and vinegar. Wow.