Restaurant review: The Valley’s Za Za Ta has that vava voom!

With a decor that resembles a Middle Eastern souk, new Fortitude Valley restaurant Za Ta Ta is bringing a taste of Israel to inner-city Brisbane.

IT’S AS full as a pita bread stuffed with falafels. A couple of weeks after opening, Za Za Ta, fashioned out of the retail and bar space at the base of the former Emporium Hotel in Ann Street (now the Ovolo The Valley Hotel) feels like peak hour in a Middle Eastern souk.

Rather than one dining space, this ode to Israeli food spreads itself through several wondrously styled rooms. The design could either be described as eclectic or unhinged, depending where you stand on décor based around a fusion of Victorian era influences, a 1940s cocktail armoire, a library and Queenslander architecture.

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We’re in the Victorian-inspired conservatory featuring, naturally, loads of glass, a tiled floor, colourful upholstery and jungle wallpaper.

The interior at Za Za Ta: Rather than one dining space, this ode to Israeli food spreads itself through several wondrously styled rooms.

We’re cheek by jowl with a couple of blokes who are hastily necking a bottle of pinot and discussing work politics with such vigour and volume they could have been heard if they were at opposite ends of a very large paddock. There are work groups, tables of friends and tourists. Ear horns would have been useful as we tried to make ourselves heard over the pandemonium.

The menu romps through subtitles of raw and cured to “nibbles, pickled and snacks”, “small to start” and “a bit larger” and “veggies and more”. Our waitress tells us the fried goat’s cheese pretzel ($14 for two) is already something of a signature dish and they are appealing. The pastry twists are lightly browned, cheesy and crisp with a blob of aioli topped with a scattering of chopped lamb bacon on the side.

Octopus at Za Za Ta Octopus at Za Za Ta

Crispy mejadra prawn bites ($14) turn out to be croquettes paired with thin slices of fermented kohlrabi to offset the grease and are unremarkable, while the beef cheek and silverbeet dumplings with caramelised yoghurt and turnip ($22) are stodgy but pleasant enough.

By far the best thing we eat all night is the Fremantle octopus ($28), a tender tentacle curving on the plate, with camel nduja, eggplant, salted walnut on the side. It’s really good.

A short rib ($46) arrives in gelatinous, falling apart splendour with a stew of sweet “bullhorn” peppers and coriander jus. It’s a dish that could have done with a bit more “oomph” and it’s true of most of the dishes we try. There’s so much work in all the accoutrements and thought given to sourcing quality ingredients but dishes would benefit from more definitive spice and punchy flavours.

Fried goats cheese pretzel at Za Za Ta.

There is no dessert menu but after being lost in translation for a while with our heavily accented waitress we think our options are either halva cheesecake or doughnut balls. We opt for the balls and they aren’t bad, sitting in a thick custard and adorned with pieces of cherry.

The 100-bottle wine list has an Italian, French and Australian focus as well as a point of difference with its inclusions from the Middle East, including one wine from Morocco and several from Israel. The beers are interesting, from the hyper local such as Newstead Pale Ale to four from Israel and there’s a strong cocktail selection with plenty of intriguing entries such as the Café Babylon, an alchemy of Turkish coffee, date syrup, carob chocolate vodka, all spice bitters, coffee liqueur, green cardamom and carob pods.

The doughnut dessert at Za Za Ta

This is a vibrant new venue for the Valley with immense attention to detail across all the menus. Service is attentive and engaging, if somewhat stretched perhaps by the numbers pouring in so soon after opening. But for the restaurant food to rock it needs to shake off the shackles of trying to please all and dial up the spice.

Octopus at Za Za TaOctopus at Za Za TaOctopus at Za Za Ta

ZA ZA TA

1000 Ann St, Fortitude Valley

BOOK

ovolohotels.com.au/ovolothevalley/eat/

3253 6999

OPEN

Brunch, 12-5pm Sunday; lunch 11am-2.30pm Wed-Fri; dinner 5.30pm-late Tue to Sat

MUST TRY Fremantle octopus

VERDICT

Food 7.5

Ambience 8

Service 8

Value 7.5

OVERALL 8