Having seen this place reviewed before, I’ve always been salivating at the thought of the swimming crab starter (‘Cua Farci’) from Cay Tre. Since deciding that this was where we were going, I’d been asking anybody and everybody just to make sure that it really was a good place for food. But hey, whatever they said, I was adamant to fulfil my vietnamese food craving regardless.
We got there about 6.30pm, after a brief but chilly walk from Old Street station. On entering and asking for a table for 4, the waitress asked us whether we’d be finished within an hour. We thought… sure? They were obviously anticipating a very busy Saturday night even though the restaurant was only half full when we arrived. We settled on one of the middle tables on the top floor and ordered our food, although it was hard to decide (at least for me) because I wanted to order EVERYTHING.
First came our Bò cuôn bánh tráng (£6.00ea) which was this sirloin beef that was grilled in front of us at the table, and the rice paper rolls filled with the other ingredients. This was gorgeous to eat, because the beef was tender (verging on medium rare, to V’s horror) and the herbs and pickle, and my favourite, the fish sauce, gave such an awesome kick. This was quite dear, coming in at £2.00 each, but it really is a must-eat starter. Why else would you eat Vietnamese if you didn’t have the paper rolls?!
For starter, we also had the Cua Farci a.k.a swimming crab because it’s a crab shell filled with a mix of crabmeat and pork, ’swimming’ in this thick sauce of egg white and “wood ear” fungi (Chinese term). Meh, didn’t live up to my high expectations for it. And I’m sure I’m having the same problem as many others… if I wasn’t in a restaurant, I’d be digging my fingers into the rims inside of the shell to get every last bit of meat out.
Our main was this basa fish dish called Luon Rang Sa Ot. where the fish is coated in turmeric and lemongrass and topped with chilli, pan-seared (£7.50). Excited much? The fish on the place wasn’t much, but maybe because my friends had eaten it all because it was SO delicious. I joke. The flavours were nice, and serving up with the lemongrass and chilli made the dish very good to look at as well as eat. I’m not much a health-eater, but this dish had a fair amount of oil because it was pan-seared…
Anyway. As for main fill-you-up dishes, we ordered Bún cha and Pho sate (Saigon Saté Beef “Pho” Noodles). The bun was amazing. Like.. if you were to compare this dish with a similar one at PHO (ref. Oxford Street or Westfields), you’d be comparing Lindt and Sainsbury’s Basics range. The amount of pork in the bowl was probably more than the vermicelli noodles (which is always a plus for the paying customer) and they were cooked with such strong fragrant flavours. I haven’t had such good bun noodles before, but my friend tells me that another place in the same area makes it better. I want bun. I love bun. Fact.
The Pho sate was hot. The flavours were nice, because you could taste this homemade tomato soup (I think) but the strong basil on top was knocking you off your path of flavour enlightenment. It was so exciting, and it also made me sweat buckets.
As for service. We finished within the hour, but was hurried along by the waitress who waited on us initially. The thing is, we felt quite hard done by to pay the service charge when we’d only been there for an hour, as well as having had bad service from the waitress because she didn’t believe that we’d only ordered one bun, and they served us two.
But tell you one thing that was very amusing.. we ordered three vietnamese coffees to share, especially when V and I were on our maiden voyage on trying this type of coffee (not much coffee love here). Our friends told us that the coffee did need a lot more condensed milk to make it ‘vietnamese style’, but it was more the container they gave it to us in. It was like a clear tofufa pot (small fat cylinder), and they slashed a cross in the centre of the lid for us to insert the straw (which had been cut short, for our convenience!).
Cay Tre has awesome food for low prices. I’d advise you to reserve a table if you know you’re going to go. By the time we left, the queues waiting for a table amounted to almost 15 people outside the main door. If only this joint was in West London, I’d be visiting it every lunch for my Bun!
Cay Tre
301 Old Street
London EC1V 9LA
Tel: 020 7729 8662
www.vietnamesekitchen.co.uk
Tags: coffee, london, old street, vietnamese
March 2, 2009 at 6:33 pm |
LOL I love the Lindt and Sainsbury’s Basics comparison. It seems like many Vietnamese places around there have time limits. If you want to enjoy the meal and company more (which I prefer), I think Mien Tay on Kingsland Road is good. I don’t know why it was quiet there last time I went, because the food was pretty good!
March 30, 2009 at 2:09 pm |
Hey Dana and Vivi !
How are things on your end? I’m back in London now….. and I have a boatload of pictures from my trip to Taipei. I went up mountain to have some food there ( really awesome) , went to eat Yunnan food (the smelly tofu) , went to have beef noodle soup plus some gorgeous tofu with century egg and also had a walk about at the night market…. and also went shaghainese at ding tai fung
I know before I left, I promised you a guestpost abt taiwan food and I’d like to meet that promise, would you still like me to guestpost for ya?
Let me know!!
March 30, 2009 at 2:57 pm |
Oooh! Yummy! Can i have a bite. I have just moved to my new domain today. Hope to see you there.
April 8, 2009 at 8:05 pm |
All your photos from Cay Tre have put me in a serious mood for Vietnamese food, and it’s probably just as well that the bun cha (one of my faves) wasn’t front and center! I find it appalling, really, that the waitress would ask you how long you planned to enjoy your food, even if it was a busy night for them. Since when has it been okay to hurry your customers out the door before they’re even seated? Ah, well, at least your food turned out well and it didn’t hurt your wallet too badly!
September 7, 2009 at 5:24 pm |
[...] of coffee granules and coffee filter. As you may know from having dinners at Mango Tree, Pho and Cay Tre, vietnamese coffee is a patient affair. You’d be waiting five minutes, maybe more, for a [...]