Exploring The Culinary World

Located on the 24th floor of Centara Grand at CentralWorld is The World, a restaurant that specializes in bringing the best cuisines from all corners of the globe to tables in Bangkok. With its regular promotions of dedicated national food festivals, The World is also renowned for its stunning Sunday Brunch, which starts before noon and ends mid-afternoon. On any particular Sunday, diners can expect to be treated to gastronomic delights from Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Japan, China and Australasia.

 

Having taken a seat at one of the many tables next to the floor to ceiling windows, we marvelled for a few minutes at the stunning views across Bangkok. Dark, moody storm clouds on the horizon signalled the arrival of yet another monsoon downpour in the coming hours. But our focus was elsewhere now, our appetites whet with the aromas of freshly cooked foods, simmering soups and much more.

 

 

As we’re both seafood lovers the first stop was the Japanese counter to fill our plates with a selection of mouthwatering sashimi and incredibly delicate sushi. A scoop of seaweed sprinkled with sesame seeds, a few slices of gari sushi ginger, a touch of wasabi and a splash of soy sauce rounded out the Japanese fare. Our second stop was at the deep-sea food station for peeled prawns, Korean oysters, Alaskan King crab, green mussels, salmon and, of course, some spicy seafood sauce.

 

Arriving back at our table, a waitress was on hand to suggest a glass of white wine, a tasty fruit drink or fresh coconuts to go with our brunch, as all were included in the Sunday Brunch price. We opted for fresh coconuts, white wine and a ginger drink concoction that was sure to put hairs on your chest – if you didn’t already have them. By noontime, The World was abuzz with various nationalities, groups large and small, grandparents and grandchildren eyes bulging at the feast in front of them. Everyone was enjoying the amazing buffet on display.

 

The produce selected by the team of chefs at The World is sourced from around the globe and the freshness is never in question. The Alaskan King crab was amazingly fresh, as if a member of the Deadly Catch had just plucked it from the Bearing Sea, while the sushi was a pure delight with a splash of soy sauce and a dab of wasabi. When eating sushi, I prefer not to mix soy sauce into the wasabi so that the taste of the rice and topping are allowed to dominate rather than having a nostril full of wasabi.

 

 

Slowly grazing through our starter plates, our attention was soon drawn to the live cooking stations where fresh Italian pasta dishes and foie gras were being prepared. While one of us went and filled a plate of the freshest salads you can imagine, the other ordered a spicy seafood pasta, a slice of Australian prime rib roast beef and two lamb chops cooked in a port wine sauce.

 

The mains at The World are sensational and no expense is spared to bring the best and freshest selections from the land and ocean. A talented chef cooked the pasta to perfection while the Australian beef and lamb chops certainly lived up to expectations with both meats almost melting in the mouth. If you’re lucky enough to spot the snow fish with saffron sauce be sure to grab not one but two portions as this was our pick of the day. The snow fish was sensational and the saffron sauce perfectly compliments the delicacy of the fish. Definitely a dish created in heaven.

 

 

We sampled various dishes from China such as Hong Kong noodles with pork, roast duck and red pork and goose feet in gravy with vegetables, but declined the shark fin soup. From Thailand, we mixed stir-fry vegetables with slow-cooked pork Massaman curry, grilled chicken breast with prune sauce, the all-time favourite Tom Yam Goong and a selection of white, blue and brown rice. We also grabbed a few freshly made Vietnamese spring rolls for good measure.

 

During our visit, The World was celebrating its Indonesian food festival so we were able to try dishes such as Pindang Srani (Salmon clear and sour soup), Urap (Vegetables with shredded grilled coconut salad), Gado-Gado (Mixed vegetables with peanut sauce), Bakwan Jagung (Corn fritters with shrimp), Udang Bakar Bali (Grilled jumbo prawn marinated with Balinese spices), Mento (Minced beef rolled in egg crepe steamed in banana leaf) and Sosis Solo (Minced beef rolled in egg crepe).

 

 

After devouring all this fabulous food you think we might have opted to skip dessert, but you’d be wrong. The dessert section was thoroughly tempting in every way – cakes, pastries, freshly cooked Thai desserts, a choice of ice creams, a chocolate tower, fresh fruits and more. To suggest you could only come away with a small selection of desserts is fanciful talk; you’re going to leave with your plate piled high as we did.

 

 

All in all, The World is a fantastic place to bring your family or your date for a perfect Sunday Brunch with the three-and-a-half-hour buffet costing just Bt1,890++ per person. Children aged between 4-years and 11-years-old get a 50% discount, while kids under the age of four eat for free.

 

For more information, contact +66 (0) 2100-6255 or email diningcgcw@chr.co.th.