(Photo from Zentro Facebook page)
Located in the Degla part of Maadi, Zentro is a new Asian fusion restaurant which offers Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisine in a spacious area which includes a children’s room. Zentro’s location is excellent and the space is huge compared to other restaurants in Maadi. Zentro’s food is delicious but it does come at a steep price, which for most of us would make this restaurant more of a special treat rather than a go-to-everyday option.
When we went the place had not been open long so it still smelled like fresh paint. The first thing that struck us was the comfortable, open space. The place has a very clean look that makes it easy to feel at home but its abundance of space and the echo-producing acoustics sometimes felt like you were shouting rather than talking to your dinner companions.
We started off with a Thai Appetiser Platter for EGP 60, which included two skewers of beef, two skewers of chicken, two shrimp spring rolls and two moneybags. The food took its time to arrive at the table but, like everything else on the platter, the chicken and beef were juicy and fresh. Unfortunately Zentro is the kind of place where you pay a lot for good food but do not get a lot of it. In fact, this is the only reason that counts against Zentro; its small portions compared to what you pay.
For our main dish we ordered King Prawns with Minced Chicken in Eggplant Cradle (EGP 65) from the Chinese menu and the dish was excellent, and we were told, very popular. The combination of prawn, chicken and earthly eggplant was a rewarding mix that we loved and highly recommend. We followed this with a Seafood Fried Rice South-East Asian Style (EGP 48) which was equally satisfying and a lot more filling. The shrimps were succulent, very well-seasoned and the rice was cooked to perfection.
Zentro’s sushi is a little unorthodox if you are used to the few well-known sushi places around Cairo who dominate that cuisine, but everything about it was nicely balanced and delicious. What really impressed us about Zentro more than anything else was the freshness of its ingredients. The sushi in particular gave you a burst of flavour with every bite and some of Zentro’s rolls combine excellent combinations of ingredients which pay off.
Zentro makes excellent Asian food and does it in a clean, spacious and beautiful villa in Maadi in a quiet area (and delivers). The options are varied and the restaurant manages to maintain consistent quality throughout, but its prices, and its portions, are not ideal. Nonetheless, Zentro is well-worth the visit for its great dishes and ambience.
