Zen Q – Chewy Matcha, Yam, and Taro Q Balls

Zen Q, a Taiwanese dessert house just opened up on Marine Gateway and it is the sister restaurant of the well known Chatime!

Zen stands for grass jelly (which is something they’re also known for), and Q stands for ‘chewy’ or ‘bouncy’, which is often the texture that is referred to when talking about their taro, yam, or matcha balls.

Before we get into the desserts, let’s look at their drink series. Starting from top left going clockwise: Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea (classic, similar to the ones served at Chatime), Wintermelon Latte (had a very nutty taste to it which was weird for me), Strawberry Black Tea (very heavy strawberry taste), Oreo Cocoa Ice Diamond (quite sweet but super indulgent), Mango Blue Mountain Green Tea (refreshing, one of my favs from the bunch).

If you’re a fan of hot Asian desserts/sweet soups, you will love ZenQ. They have quite a few selections and most of them are not overly sweet which is great. The front features the Red Bean Soup with No.3 Sweet Potato ($6.80).

I believe this is the Tofu Pudding No. 3 – Sweet Potato ($8.40) which comes with pearls, peanuts, and taro/yam/match balls.

Next up are the waffles. This Waffle with Fruit Platter ($8.90) comes with a variety of fruits like mango, strawberry, honeydew, and banana. Not bad if you’re wanting some fresh fruit for dessert. The waffles are light and airy… your typical waffle batter.

The Banana Chocolate Waffle ($7.90) comes with banana, chocolate ice-cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It’s a little more decadent than the other waffle platter and is more for chocolate lovers.

Another one of their signature desserts is their Mango Creamy Frappe ($8.90). It comes with fresh mango, ice-cream, mango shaved ice, and rainbow cereal. The ice is creamy and not like the normal shaved ice you get in Hawaii. It definitely deserves the name “Mango Creamy”.

My favourite dessert of the night was the Grass Jelly No.2 ($7.50). It’s a cold grass jelly dish and comes with pearls, brown sugar ice, real taro chunks, and matcha/yam/taro balls. I love the signature grass jelly dish at Meet Fresh (which is essentially the same thing) and this one is half the price! Plus, the Q balls here are super bouncy. They make them in-house by cooking real taro, mashing them up, blending it together with a batter, rolling them out into logs, cutting them, and re-freezing them to keep its shape and for future use. No artificial stuff here!

All in all, Zen Q is a really great addition to the Asian dessert scene. I love Chatime so I have very high hopes for Zen Q and it’s impending success!

Service Rating: N/A

Food Rating: 3.5/5

Price: $

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!