DUCK DYNASTY
Authentic Cantonese at Centara Grand, CentralPlaza Lardprao
Connoisseurs of Cantonese cuisine are unlike those of other culinary genres in Bangkok. They tend to put their trust only in time-honoured masters, rather than new phenomenons, especially when it comes to gastronomic comfort.
And among them, Dynasty at Centara Grand, CentralPlaza Lardprao has been a trustworthy name since the restaurant opened 34 years ago.
Flocked by corporate executives and political top dogs on weekdays and families on weekends, the 260-seat establishment with 12 private rooms serves up authentic Cantonese cuisine prepared with high-quality, fresh ingredients.
The menu is a comprehensive collection of traditional Hong Kong fare, boasting prime seafood dishes, BBQ items and meticulously-made dim sum.
Recently, Dynasty introduced a selection of eight-course set menus that cater to a group of up to 10.
The sets, priced from 7,300 baht to 45,200 baht, gather together a number of the restaurant’s all-time favourites such as Peking duck and roasted suckling pig, as well as dishes prepared with live fish and imported seafood.
Most of the 11 sets start with assorted hors d’oeuvres. The platter features drunken chicken, deep-fried egg rolls, marinated jellyfish with sweet and sour dressing. The more pricey sets kick off with salad of prawn or Phuket lobster.
A choice of soups (braised fish maw for the cheaper-priced sets and supreme shark’s fin for the expensive counterparts) represents the second course before the BBQ centrepiece arrives. The Peking duck, which we had, was as usual well-worth its acclaim. Sizeable slices of crispy, mahogany-coloured skin were professionally carved of the roasted bird and served with steamed flour sheets, fresh vegetable sticks and sweet and sticky sauce on the side.
The leftover meat was roughly minced and stir-fried with spices and chopped vegetables to be enjoyed with iceberg lettuce.
Some sets feature the popular dish of butterfly prawns with mayonnaise and sesame seeds. The deep-fried battered prawns proved plump and were enhanced by the creamy mayo dressing.
Aquatic produce such as goby fish, red garoupa, abalone (from Australia and Mexico), razor clams, tiger prawns, scallops and sea cucumber are also featured in the sets.
I sampled fresh Australian abalone sautéed with oyster sauce and shiitake mushrooms and was satisfied with the tastily gummy quality of the mollusc, as well with the intense gravy.
The steamed goby fish with soya sauce infused with ginger was delicious and the fish’s naturally sweet meat nicely made up for the tedious task of removing its fine bones.
While the interestingly-sounding Singaporean fried vermicelli noodles tasted fair compared to the restaurant’s classic fried rice with barbecued pork.
Desserts for the set menus vary from deep-fried sweet taro and Chinese date pancake to honeydew melon with sago in chilled coconut milk and double-boiled bird’s nest and ginko nuts in a light syrup.
We had the latter, which was served in a whole young coconut, and were delighted.
Dynasty is also well-treasured for its prime-quality dim sum delicacies. Until the end of August, the restaurant features an all-you-can-eat dim sum promotion for lunch and dinner. The buffet, available everyday, features as many as 60 dim sum items and is priced at 850 baht per person, inclusive of free-flow Chinese tea.