A flavourful trek to new heights

Imagine having appetisers in one setting, the main course in another and desserts in a third. Sounds like quite an adventurous night, right? Centara Grand at CentralWorld is offering such a night featuring three different restaurants for their progressive dinner special: UNO MAS, Red Sky and CRU Champagne Bar. As you progress through the meal, you go up in height as well. Starting on the 54th floor, each course takes you a few floors up. The ambience for all of the restaurants is fancy and classy whilst providing you with excellent views of Bangkok's skyline. The progressive dinner, priced at B2,999++ per person, allows you to experience all three restaurants in one night. It's guaranteed that you'll be able to take amazing photographs, but your Instagram feed shouldn't be the only thing satisfied.

Setting

You start off the night at UNO MAS, a restaurant that is split into three zones. The first zone is the wine cellar, with an eight-metre long wine tower consisting of over 2,000 bottles for your choosing. The dark, mood lighting with a DJ off to the side is perfect for an evening of drinks. Zone 2, the semi-alfresco Tapas and Raw Bar, has seating by the windows that offer breathtaking views of the skyline along with tables on the upper deck and stools around the bar. Here you'll get the more tapas-centred dishes that are more conducive for sharing and light eating. Zone 3 is the dining deck, offering just as breathtaking views but with more tables for dining. The starry ceiling is a beautiful addition to the sofa seating towards the side that can make for a romantic meal.

Photos: Supakit Buyam

You can then walk up the stairs in Zone 1 of UNO MAS to the Red Sky on the 55th floor. There are indoor and outdoor seatings but the more popular area is of course the latter, offering up even more stunning views. The red and pink pillows, red mood lighting, and the long bar along the side of the restaurant make for a subtle yet trendy setting. It can get rather windy up here but it may be a nice respite from all the heat during the day. The restaurant is perfect for an intimate meal -- a nice transition from the more casual start at UNO MAS.

Once you're ready for dessert, you can make your way up to CRU on the 59th floor that sits atop Centara Grand. Your mode of transport -- a glass elevator -- is plucked straight from a fairy tale, providing you the chance to marvel at the view and the architecture of the building on your way up. CRU is exclusively for drinks which include, of course, champagne, but there are snacks as well. The 360-degree panoramic view of the skyline and an elevated circular bar smack-bang in the middle make you feel as if you are on top of the world. Chairs circle the bar area and there are more private seating areas in a higher deck off to the side. It's the perfect end to the progressive dinner, and to your night.

Read on to see if the dishes on the progressive menu stand tall as well.

Five kinds of assorted tapas.

Let's begin with the starters at UNO MAS. UNO MAS translates to "one more" in Spanish, which is exactly what you'll be saying once you sample the five kinds of assorted tapas offered. You also have the option of a glass of red, white, or sparkling sangria. We went for the red and it was a refreshingly fruity and sweet start to the night.

The most popular tapas is the Joselito Iberian ham. Joselito is well-renowned as one of the best hams in the world, and we definitely see why. Slightly salted, the ham is fresh and is nicely complemented with a tomato spread. The premium Cantabrian anchovies Don Bocarte tapas is a lot saltier and a little sour yet still a fine starter. In addition, the wild mushroom Croquettes with foie gras mayonnaise have a great crumbly crust and the creamy mayonnaise was rather scrumptious. The Broken quail eggs, sobrasada, piquillo pepper sauce, with aioli huevos rotos were an absolute delight, with the spices providing nice little kick of an after-taste. The verdict of foie gras terrine with sangria jelly however depends on your fondness of foie gras and jelly. The generous helping of the jelly masks the taste and greasiness of the foie gras quite a bit and the combination of something sweet with the meat was definitely interesting.

American Wagyu beef short rib with potato gnocchi.

We then travelled two floors up to the Red Sky for our main course. We decided to try both the main course options offered as part of the menu. The butter roasted whole Dover sole meuniere was more than filling. The fish was roasted in shallot and parsley butter that was quite lovely to complement the meat but was perhaps too light, considering the meat is already quite salty. The fish also had quite a number of bones that you had to navigate through.

The American Wagyu beef short rib with potato gnocchi, mushrooms and braising liquid was also very filling. The meat is chewy and tender however it was quite oily as there was a lot of fat. If you're a fan of fatty meat, you perhaps wouldn't mind it so much. The gnocchi is a nice addition to the meat and the asparagus as the token veggie is cooked to perfection. The two options are paired with wine and we opted for the one that comes with the beef: Cabernet Sauvignon Luis Felipe Edwards from Central Valley, Chile. The dark fruity flavours worked very well with the meat.

The evening ended with a dessert at CRU. The menu offers Chocolate cheesecake that is paired with a glass of Mumm N°1 Pink Exclusive Champagne, the most popular signature champagne cocktail at the bar. The sparkling sweetness of the drink was a nice contrast to the richness of the dark chocolate and crumbly cheesecake. The crust, whilst not being too tough, is even better with the dollop of raspberry. It was a rich end to a rich night.

Insider's Tip

Carve out an entire night for this one. The selection of dishes is extensive and you'll want to spend an ample amount of time in each setting to soak it all in. We recommend this experience for an anniversary, a momentous occasion, a year-end celebration or just a special night out. This experience should be shared with a loved one.

Verdict and Value

You definitely get your values worth, and a lot more, with this progressive dinner offered by Centara Grand. The view is stunning, the food is tasty and the ambience is just the cherry on top. You will climb great heights for this dinner, but it is worth the trek.