Mediterranean comforts

Victoria by Cocotte is a new addition to CentralWorld's staggering repertoire of 250 restaurants.

Located on the ground floor of the massive shopping complex, the 100-seater, which opened a couple of months ago, serves up a contemporary brasserie-style cuisine -- a casual mix of French, Italian and Mediterranean comfort food.

The restaurant's culinary quality, as its moniker suggests, is endorsed by the robust Cocotte team, which also runs Mozza Italian trattoria, Leon French bistro and the very successful flagship restaurant Cocotte steakhouse & rotisserie.

Victoria's 70-item menu is an easygoing confluence of the above offerings.

It has classics like a steak frites main course and escargot appetiser, as well as a large selection of pasta, salad, soup, sandwiches and seafood. There's also a separate brunch menu that offers all-day dining breakfast, healthy meals, gourmet coffee and fresh fruit drinks. Dishes here are prepared with top-notch ingredients and most of them are imported, if not produced in house.

At noon on the Friday I visited, business was somewhat slow, but it usually picks up on weekends, or so I was told. Service was provided by English speaking staff, who attended to the half-occupied dining area cordially and promptly.

A plate of tomato confit bruschetta (260 baht) kicked off my lunch with four pieces of simple but faultless toasted baguette topped with layers of soft stracciatella buffalo milk cheese, juicy confit cherry tomato and dollops of pesto sauce.

Tomato confit bruschetta with stracciatella cheese and pesto sauce.

Victoria's rendition of deviled eggs (260 baht), another homely appetiser, is lent with an aromatic luxurious touch of truffle. The hard-boiled organic eggs, dressed in truffle mayonnaise, mustard, chives and fresh shavings of French black truffle, proved worthy.

Baked escargots (440 baht) was also ordered because the dish is one of the bestsellers.

Served piping hot in a traditional ceramic plate were six pieces of springy baked French snails bathed in garlic herb butter, which we washed the plate clean with bread.

In the pasta section, interesting choices include tagliolini with crab meat and bisque sauce; Mediterranean-styled penne with roasted vegetables and stracciatella cheese; homemade tagliatelle with Wagyu beef ragu; and coquilette pasta with jambon and truffle.

The latter (690 baht), which we truly enjoyed, features French-styled elbow pasta cooked to offer a pleasant gummily soft chew, with diced Paris ham, mushroom stock and a lavish topping of hand-shaved comte cheese and fresh black truffle.

Cafe de Paris steak featuring black Angus tenderloin and herb butter sauce.

There are quite a few seafood highlights at the restaurant. If you come in a group, a plate of French Riviera style baked sea bass or seafood paella is a nice option for sharing.

Otherwise, go for pan-seared white fish meuniere with butter lemon sauce; codfish risotto with rocket salad; or salmon steak with chorizo sauce.

My order of a thick fillet salmon steak with crispy pan-seared skin and glossy pinkish-orange meat (540 baht) won the photogenic contest when compared to all other food on the table. Accompanying the fish were grilled vegetables, mixed mushrooms and creamy reddish-orange sauce permeated with Spanish spicy sausage.

For the main meat course, we were recommended Cafe de Paris steak (1,490 baht).

Victoria's combo of the steak, salad and French fries, was big enough to satisfy three beef loons at our table. It featured a 400g grilled black Angus tenderloin that came laid on a bed of herb butter sauce. The pinkish-red beef was of a medium-cooked perfection, exhibiting a super tender quality and flavoursome meat. The herb sauce, on the other hand, was too salty, unfortunately.

Pan-seared salmon steak with chorizo sauce.

A delightful serving of tropical panna cotta (290 baht), featuring creamy coconut pudding topped with nam dok mai mango sorbet, passion fruit cream, coconut crumble and mango & pineapple salad nicely wrapped up the meal.

The restaurant also offers daily afternoon tea with options of pairing prosecco.