Granted that there’s a Terrace in nearly every Central in Bangkok; but it is a rare phenomenon that a mall has its own line of restaurants. (We think of Ging Kalaprapreuk, which is at Emporium and Paragon, but even they started out as a standalone Pra Muan Road.) And considering that Central Chidlom is the jewel in the Central crown, and the Terrace there has a captive audience of moneyed Thais and farangs, we thought it fair to inform you of your choices, and have come to the conclusion that, despite being packed all the time, it’s only worth going to if you’re exhausted after shopping and can’t make it up another set of escalators to the Food Loft on the seventh floor. That, or you should figure out over many meals’ worth of trial and error the few dishes they happen to do really well. The most exciting of these is the deep fried seabass with mango salad. The fish is incredibly fresh and is cooked spatchcock-style, for starters. That is, it’s cut spine to belly and splayed before being fried, so the expert batter-fry job gets on the inside flesh as well. The simple chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves is juicy and boneless and has a wonderful herby aroma, and the accompanying dipping sauce isn’t the thick tar we’ve seen at other places. But then there is a complete break in quality and good taste. Take the Terrace roasted spare ribs, which you may have high hopes for given that it bears the name of the restaurant, while the meat is exceptionally creamy, fatty and tender, the sauce is utterly insipid and one-dimensional, imparting little more than brownness and sweetness. The black tiger shrimp salad, also one of their featured dishes, is impressive in theory but fraught with overcooked shrimp, and a salad that’s heavy on sugar and light on saltiness and heat. We don’t have absurd expectations of what is essentially a shopping mall diner, but for these prices, you might as well go someplace else.
