We can’t say that the basement location of this Mediterranean food court evokes the littoral charms of the region it represents, nor that its screaming, capitalized name adds to the romance of the dining experience and might perhaps open itself to ridicule (“Have you taken your……?”), but we will say that if you’re looking for a cheap and cheerful option after you’re done shopping in Orchard Central, don’t mind the company of raucous children or groups of young people taking photos of their food with their mobile phones (because there will be loads of them), and like the Marché dining template, then this is the place for you.
Because that’s essentially what MEDZS is—Marché gone Mediterranean.
They’ve basically taken Marché’s model where you shop around for your food and are charged to a ‘credit card’ which is settled on your way out. The place even looks and feels the same, but while Marché gives you the alpine, MEDZS offers a more diverse dining experience with the cuisines of Italy (pizza, calzone), France (rotisserie, grill), Spain (paella), Greece (seafood), Turkey (kebabs, hot plates), Morocco and Tunisia (tagines) all represented. There’s also a fresh juice station, a decently stacked beer bar with over 100 different beers, a salad and sandwich stall, and a dessert section. For our mains we had the chicken paella ($12) from the Spanish station and the salt crust roast beef ($17.90) from the relatively more refined French stall—both portions decently sized and not bad value for money. The dessert options are particularly Frenchified—mousses, crêpes, éclairs, tarts, soufflés—and could do with better representation from the region (where’s the baklava, guys?). We had the chocolate fondant ($3.50), which was pretty much the same grade as the rest of the food at MEDZS—adequate, but not terribly inspired.
It is a food court, after all.
