Gong has all the appearances of a high-end and swanky restaurant and it delivers on its…read moreappearances. My wife is not a fan of Chinese food, while I love it. Having Chinese food in Italy was a very long shot given my wife is not partial to it. However, despite her view of Chinese food, even she loved this place.
First, the decor and service are both emblematic of a 5-star restaurant. I'd be surprised if anyone were to disagree on either of those points. And the food?
Well, Gong's menu and food were not what we are accustomed to eating in the NYC metro area, or anywhere else I've had Chinese food in America, including many times in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Yet, it was clearly Chinese food, yet really different and special.
For wine, we opted for a French Bordeaux by the glass. At 18 Euro per glass this was expensive by comparison to other restaurants we'd eaten at in Italy. However, this was well worth the cost, as the wine was truly superior.
The grilled pork dumplings were our appetizer. These were the closest to what we are used to, but they were really something exceptional in taste.
The next three dishes were all variations on roast pork lo mein, seafood fried rice, and kung po chicken. However the resemblance was only slight in both appearances, which were amazing, as well as the taste - all three were incredibly tasty. All these dishes were also different from what we are accustomed to, as they were small portions. The fact these were small portions though left us room for dessert.
We often skip dessert. We find that desserts often are nothing special and do not measure up to what came before, even in the best of the best restaurants. Here though, the desserts seemed unusual, interesting, and tempting.
The dessert we chose was enough for two. This was a little surprising when the other courses were on the small side. We had the saffron foam, mascarpon cream, gianduia,
nut crumble and saffron granita specialty, which comes to the table looking like you're eating a framed painting. This was spectacular and really memorable.
So, if you're in Milan and want something different, Gong is a place not to be missed. It is located right off the Tricolore station plaza.