EATING OUT
Vietnamese restaurant serves Thai and Western favourites
VANNIYA SRIANGURA
Opened 14 years ago, Gia Long is the oldest eatery at CentralWorld. Pronounced "ya-long", the restaurant was named after Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam's Nguyen Dynasty and known to serve delicate Vietnamese fare.
If you can remember Gia Long's exclusive setting in the old days with its lavish Louis XVI furniture, heavy velvet drapes, crystal chandeliers and warm lighting, you'd be surprised to see the restaurant's interior now very bright and breezy with a fresh colour scheme and floor-to-ceiling glass window that allows full view of the bustling city.
Situated at exactly the same location, Gia Long had gone through a complete revamp. Today it looks very trendy with stylish tables, chairs and booths arranged under garden umbrellas and contemporary round iron chandeliers to create the feeling of an open-air eatery at a ritzy island resort. The restaurant is garnished with fresh flower arrangements the colours and styles of which match the cheery setting. Because of its picturesque appearance, Gia Long today has become a popular venue for trendy happenings and photo shoots.
We visited the restaurant at noon on Tuesday. The 150-seater was almost packed with young office workers, expat families and tourists.
Other than the Vietnamese pagoda emblem printed on the cushions, leather covers of the menu and paper napkins, there's almost nothing that represents the reserved culture of the Pearl of Asia. Even so, it was still very surprising to see pictures of pork chops and green curry on the first couple of pages of Gia Long's recommendation menu. Isn't this a Vietnamese restaurant?
We later learned that ever since the economic crash of the late 1990s, Gia Long has lost a number of local guests (mostly senior diners who flocked here for the Vietnamese fare), but instead the restaurant has welcome more and more foreign customers. So, the menu was adapted to cater to the changing needs of customers and selections of Thai and Western dishes were added.
Our lunch that day, not surprisingly, was rather international with one Western item, two Thai dishes and four Vietnamese options.
The first dish was pork chop (250 baht) - well, the restaurant's staff said it was one of the best sellers. Served with boiled vegetables, french fries, onion rings and tasty brown sauce on the side, the thick slice of meat, coated with salt and pepper, was juicy and firm but not stiff.
The second dish, fried prawn with tamarind salsa sauce (250 baht), represented Thai cuisine. The prawn came bathed in not-too-sweet tamarind sauce and was scrumptious.
We'd never imagined that we would find one of the best green curries here. Served with crispy roti bread, the gaeng khiew wan nuea, or green curry with beef (150 baht) was prized for the flavourful and subtle thick curry which was great till the last drop.
Out of four Vietnamese dishes, I found two passable. The moo hor bai cha-plu, or small brochettes of grilled pork wrapped in cha-plu leaves (100 baht) was fine but offered no memorable thrill, while the fresh spring rolls (70 baht) were merely mediocre.
What was impressive, however, was the sen mee moo yang, or fine rice noodles with grilled pork (120 baht). Intermingled nicely with the soft noodles and fresh vegetables, the grilled and marinated pork was succulent and pleasantly chewy while yielding a sweet and salty tang.
The goong pun oy, or deep-fried minced prawn on sugarcane sticks (90 baht per stick) were also delightful.
Just like the savoury menu, the dessert page featured an international mix of traditional Thai sweets, Italian gelato and a few Vietnamese delicacies. We waived mango sticky rice and went for the most Vietnamese option, deep-fried battered banana with honey (70 baht), and were contented.
Gia Long may have disappointed me a little for being less Vietnamese than it should be. But all the same, if you ask me where to savour tasty food in a pleasant ambiance I would definitely recommend Gia Long.
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Gia Long
6th floor, CentralWorld Plaza
Tel 02-255-9654
Open: Daily 10am-10pm
Parking: Plenty at Central World
Credit card: Visa, MasterCard, Amex
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