There’s nothing wrong with Westernised Vietnamese, it’s a way in. But if you’ve been to Vietnam you’ll know that the new chain restaurants popping up everywhere don’t even come close to the real thing.
We’d heard on the grapevine about new restaurant Cay Khe in Abingdon that serves authentic Vietnamese food, a promise we’d heard many times and always been disappointed.
But having visited Vietnam last year TRAVEL REVIEW: VIETNAM – Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh – the dog in the pearl necklace, monk in the hot tub, and other adventures, and been hankering after its food, we screeched up this week, visibly palpitating, just in case.
They say you don’t need to book at Cay Khe, but we were still lucky to secure the last table on a weekday lunchtime, the mixed clientele obviously there for the same reason we were; couples with kids hankering after the food they sampled on their travels, people on their lunch breaks unable to believe their luck.
Because Cay Khe is spot on. We had found the Holy Grail. Even the drinks menu proved that our quest was over, with egg or salt coffee on offer, both classics, opting for the family pot of jasmine tea which arrived in a beautiful, ornate teapot.
Even more exciting was the Bánh mì offering – Cay Khe even has its own Bánh mì station for God’s sake. Hallelujah.
If you haven’t tried a Bánh mì, its a Vietnamese staple hailing from Saigon, influenced by its French colonial history – hence the baguette – but despite scouring the country, have always been disappointed with imposters pretending to be the real thing.
Essentially a Vietnamese sandwich made with marinaded meat or tofu, salad, sauces, fresh herbs and chilli, at Cay Khe they do them properly, and we nearly wept in gratitude.
Because while a Bánh mì sounds simple it has to be right; the baguette needs to be crispy but almost flaky and crumbly outside, but fluffy within, its incongruous filling of pork sausage, grilled pork and liver pate (£12.50) immersed in its tangy, sweet/sour sauce, grated carrot and fresh coriander, unmistakeable. When you know you know. And the veggie version (£9.75) with mushroom and tofu, was as unequivocal.
Meal enough, we refused to retire gracefully, moving onto some of the other wonderful offerings on the Cay Khe menu. So much to choose from, all the goodies there to be sampled. It’s akin to being lost in the jungle and stumbling across a pub serving bangers and mash, roasts, fry ups, pies and fish and chips. What to choose?
In the end we settled on three staples, agreeing to share, although once the dishes arrived, there was little disseminating going on. A pho, because it’s almost obligatory – here with spicy beef – the beef stew, and the veggie vermicelli noodles.
We went for a regional speciality – the Hue spicy beef noodle soup (£16.50) – the broth rich with the perfect sheen and packed with thicker noodles and finely sliced veggies, the beef strips immersed with the spices and flavours of the pho, enhanced with lime and Thai basil, and exemplary.
The beef stew and rice (£16.50) a Cay Khe special of slow cooked beef stew with rice, was not something we’d tried before, but more of a curry full of chunks of carrot and potato, the meat tender and obviously cooked for hours, the rice topped with crispy onions and peanuts.
And the ‘bun tron chay with tofu and rice vermicelli (£13.50), all the ingredients laid out enticingly on top of the noodles with a little pot of soya sauce, which you pour over and mix up. But the differentiating textures and flavours, plentiful chunks of mushrooms replacing the meat, keep you burrowing away until the bowl is empty. Ingenious.
We couldn’t believe our luck. Proper Vietnamese food right here in Oxfordshire. And if you’ve never been to Vietnam it couldn’t matter less, because if you want to try some genuine Vietnamese food you just have to visit Abingdon, and if you live there you’ve lucked out.
Cay Khe is at 17 Stert St, Abingdon OX14 3JF
