Cay Tre: Cutting It in Soho?

Cay Tre has cut it in Shoreditch and is expanding their venture in Soho…

First impression..

…I walked past it.

Couldn’t quite notice the restaurant and required the help of my iPhone.

Modern decor it was. Black and white. Clinical. Not much personality. The most memorable items were the ceiling lamp shades, which looked similar to those at Dishoom. Amazingly chilled still water but the “Freshly squeezed juices” on the menu arrived – erm! – as a bottle of processed juice.

Surely it must have been freshly squeezed elsewhere before it was bottled.

Surely..

Adding to this,  the girl looking after our table was so courteous it took her a while to break us news that 1/3 of the menu was not available. Soft opening and 50% off the bill, I got it. There were creases to be ironed out in the service.

Surely…

The starters were okay (Do imagine me lowering my voice at the word “okay”). (1) Red Sea Prawn Summer Rolls (£4.5) was worth the money. Mine was tightly wrapped but my other bib’s was not. Good elasticity from the wrapping. A mouthful of fresh herbs. That said, it was a bit of a jungle in which the flavours of the prawns were lost. (2) Crispy Salt and Pepper Eel and (3) Crispy Salt and Pepper Frog’s Legs – both at £7.50 – were less impressive. The stir fry – chilli, onions and spring onions – in both dishes was not evenly seasoned. (I did not order both just to test their precision. Only fancied frogs and eels as other interesting items on the menu were not on that evening) The frog dish was stronger, more nicely tossed, but smaller in size. Big legs sticking out everywhere. Good batter. Nicely cooked but watery meat. The eel was only salty. No peppery heat. The eel pieces did not taste good quality.

We struggled with the mains. My Bun Bo Hue (£9) arrived 10 min or so before my other bib’s Vietnamese Duck Egg Omelette (£7).

I did not wait.

Both of us do not have the decency to wait knowing it will ruin the dish that comes first.

The Bun Bo Hue was a spicy noodle soup. The noodle itself was bigger and more round than the usual vermicelli. Slurpy. Came alive as I bit into it. The best element of the dish, really. Lemongrass, red onions and chilli infused broth was timid. Looked herbal but not fragrant. A handful of pork hock. Overall it lacked a soul..

The omelette finally turned up .. fashionably late it was. Greasy. Looking like a deflated tortilla. Clumsy garnish of coriander stems. Quite rubbery and bland, according to the other bib. Very tight on the mince pork and black mushroom filling.

I had a bite. …

Not worth waiting for.

No dessert menu.

If there were, I would not venture into it.

(This was Cay Tre’s soft-opening and surely the place can get better).

That said, at present, it is not cutting it for both of us. The place strikes me as banal. The meal is neither comforting nor refined. Stuck half way.. and borderline forgettable in the Soho eatery context. As I have not been to Cay Tre’s Shoreditch outpost, their reputed flavour offerings might have been lost somewhere along the way. Say, Theobald’s Road?

So, if you are in Soho and dying for Vietnamese food, I’d say Viet. Not perfect, not brilliant, not the best quality. Neither is their menu as extensive. Actually, it’s like going to a greasy kebab shop. Food with no expectation. Comforting, cheap, satisfying. Don’t think about it as an evening out. You eat and you leave.. a little happier!

Enough said,

My head rating says, “6 out of 10″.

My heart rating says, “4 out of 10″.

CAY TRE SOHO

44 Dean Street
London
W1D 4QD

Tel. 020 7317 9118

www.vietnamesekitchen.co.uk/caytre