12 Nov 2024
Vietnamese Cay Tre fits in well with the rest of Soho. A spacious dining room with wooden tables and booths, it felt as welcoming as any other restaurant on Dean Street. But it’s the food that really sets it apart from its neighbours.
Cay Tre has a diverse menu of small plates, mains, and sides, as well as a set menu. The small dishes range from £5 to £10 and the portions are generous, whether sharing or as an individual starter. The whole menu looks delicious, but we went for the Hanoi pillow dumplings filled with pork and prawns along with the salt n pepper tofu, and the lemon-cured beef salad with knotweed, saw leaf and prawn crackers. When they arrived, the dumplings were bursting with flavour, and the beef in the salad was cooked to perfection, and we settled in, knowing we were in for a great feed.
Moving on to mains, there was a great amount of choice for meat eaters, pescetarians, veggies and vegans. The slow braised lamb neck curry with okra, aubergine and turmeric was rich and had just the right amount of heat without setting our mouths on fire. Matched with a side of jasmine rice, this was an amazing plate of food. And the claypot soya tofu stew with shiitake mushrooms was this veggie’s dream dish! The mushrooms are cooked perfectly, complimenting the texture of the tofu and bringing the dish together. I paired this with the egg and garlic fried rice, but there’s also the wok pho with choy sum and mushroom for the fungi fans out there.
Cay Tre also offers a range classic cocktails, and I ended up going for one of the original signatures. The citrus grass and smoke daiquiri with spiced rum, palm sugar, lime, tea smoke, and lime leaf is a delicious take on the classic, with the smokey tea flavours contrasting the sweet rum. My dining partner had the green lady, with gin, matcha, pandan spirit, lime, coconut whey and ginger beer and were really impressed by the flavours.
Got you weak at the Vietnam-knees?
Get booked in on the widget on the right.About Shona
Having moved from Glasgow to London two years ago, Shona is a veggie who loves finding new places to eat and drink all over the city. You can mainly find her in Mildred’s or anywhere that sells gin.