Glorious service in Zen Chelsea

In what was once Zen Chelsea, we have another upmarket ('fine dining') Eastern job. This time it's Malaysian, from the people behind Belgravia's Mango Tree. Sometimes the concept of fine dining is odd when applied to traditional cuisines.

You do a reinvention job like Rasoi Vineet Bhatia and run the risk of unsettling the traditionalists. Or you do as they've done here: serve standard Malaysian fare with top-quality ingredients and a maniacal approach to presentation. Posh pots in slick surroundings.

The food is nice, not earth-shatteringly better than less chichi Malaysian joints, but nice. Satays are excellent: charred, generous, with a sauce of sparky, chillied peanutiness.

We tried standards — unctuous, melting beef rending — and novelties like rich, meaty butterfish grilled in a banana leaf and topped with aromatics so reeking of fish sauce and anchovy that it tasted of old socks.

Pallid, flabby steamed fish mousse tasted far better than it looked, and sauces felt home-made, not bottled.

And the service is glorious. From the moment we sat down, we were treated like visiting potentates — from a song of praise to the house champagne (Moutard: made, unusually, from six different grape varieties) to a business card from the manager. Lovely.

Awana
Sloane Avenue, London, SW3 3DX