A PLUSH new restaurant coming to Essex aims to cement the county's position as an up and coming gastronomic powerhouse.
ZINNIA, run by the Elysium Group, is set to be opened this summer as part of the £125million Clifftown Shore 51-apartment development on Southend seafront.
Taking pride of place on the ground floor, the new restaurant will offer food lovers a pan-Pacific inspired menu designed around the geographic and culinary fusions of the western shores of North and South America, the Polynesian islands, eastern Asia and Australia.
Elysium Group, which also owns Pavilion and Mimosa in Colchester, has plenty of experience in luxury dining experiences.
“ZINNIA will bes a step away from your traditional restaurant experience,” managing director Ash Afzalnia said.
“It will be an up-market theatrical operation, with a raw bar, a sushi counter, and chefs preparing food right in front of you.”
The elegant restaurant’s decor will sport a raw bar made of Japanese forest marble and mango wood, a cocktail bar made entirely of a single Brazilian gold veined granite block weighing over 15 tons with a back drop of Balinese volcanic hand carved tiles.
It will of course include the group’s signature Cherry Blossom trees under the Beachwood waved ceiling, lit with intelligent mood lighting.
Mr Afzalnia continued: “Dining isn’t just about sitting there, eating your food and then leaving the building. There is so much more to it, it’s about the experience, the feeling when you walk in, the wow factor of the food, cocktails and service.
“It’s a very social experience, rather than just a bland experience many normal restaurants offer, we want to go that step further to give people something memorable.”
The menu is best described as a melee of fresh, colourful dishes such as California sushi rolls, ahi tuna ceviche and beef tataki to Japanese A5 wagyu and miso cod.
With more than 100 fine wines and signature Asian inspired cocktails, such as Rose and Lychee martinis, there is also plenty of variety on offer from the drinks menu.
The restaurant is expected to accommodate around 200 guests at any one time with a further 80-100 on the dining terrace while also providing room service for the 51-apartments in the Clifftown Shore development on the old Esplanade pub site.
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