KY eats – buffet at Zest, Marriot Putrajaya

A few weeks ago I was invited to the launch of a brand new restaurant at Putrajaya Marriott Hotel – Zest.

The restaurant promises a “refreshing food scape of international and local favorites with the highest standards in culinary presentation” and is also a result of renovation work that lasted 6 months and some 10 million ringgit. For an all-day-dining restaurant, that’s a pretty hefty sum I’ll say.

the opening of Zest by Y.A.M. Tunku Naquiyuddin ibni Tuanku Ja’afar

The opening ceremony was done with great fanfare, with Y.A.M. Tunku Naquiyuddin ibni Tuanku Ja’afar doing the honor.

I was so happy looking at the balloons carrying Zest’s logo to flying up, for that signifies the wait is over and my stomach can finally have something other than beer and peanuts at the waiting lounge.

cold dishes include prawns, smoked salmon, cold cuts

When the curtain dropped, we walked briskly (but still have to be behind the Tunku …) to our assigned table, I put down everything except the camera and went straight to work.

Snapping photos were my secondary task, the first was to fill up the plate, I was starving, and I wanted to eat everything!

roast lamb, baked oyster, scallops, and more

Zest has 4 different islands/kitchens serving a host of different cuisines. These kitchens are situated within the dining room space so you can see that the food did not come out from some mystery back room.

There are foods you typically find in most all-day-dining restaurants such as cold cuts, prawns, salmon, raw oysters, mussels and so forth, but they also have quite a bit of those that are slightly less common.

giant grouper, various types of pasta, roast beef

For example, look at this giant grouper that was at least my weight. Cut into tiny pieces, steamed, and served in a little silver spoon, now that is not something you see everyday.

spicy ox tail soup, nasi beriyani, pulut kunyit

Zest is not pretentious, they describe their kitchen staff as a “team of talented Malaysian chefs” and this reflects on their dishes. You find plenty of local food prepared with high quality ingredients. One of my favorites of the night was the ox tail soup curry, and I hazard to say that it was the best ox tail soup I’ve had.

fruit basket, bread, seafood salad

One thing you don’t find at Zest is Japanese food. There’s no sashimi, no sushi, no cute little chawamushi or teppanyaki. I don’t miss it though, I prefer my Japanese food from dedicated Japanese restaurants anyway, and there is already plenty of others to choose from here.

spoilt for choices when it comes to desserts

The desserts at Zest, if you would just one of each item available, there will be no room left for appetizer or main course. The variety is pretty intimidating and should make anyone with sweet tooth very happy.

Ultimately I think Zest is a pretty good no-nonsense all-day-dining restaurant with a price tag that is quite reasonable. As for the RM 10 million renovation, well.. it is nice but RM 10 million nice? That will depend on your taste.

Haze and KY, and some of the stuff we ate at Zest, Marriott Putrajaya

Meals at Zest are served as follows:

• buffet breakfast @ RM48++ (6:30am – 10:30am)
• buffet lunch @ RM72++ (12pm – 2pm)
• buffet dinner @ RM 82++ (6:30pm – 10:30pm)
• weekend brunch @ RM 55++ (12pm – 4pm)

There’s also ala carte menu available all day.

Address:
Zest at Marriott Putrajaya
IOI Resort, 62505 Putrajaya
GPS: 2.969784, 101.707993
Tel: 03-8949 8888