Cây Tre SOHO @ Dean Street

ロンドン東部で人気のベトナム料理店Cây Treが西進、ソーホーにもオープンした。オーナーのVietnamese Kitchen Groupは、ホクストンにある本店、ベトナミーズ・レストランが集まるKingsland Road（キングスランド・ロード）のViet Grill、そして最近本店の向かいにオープンした軽食・テークアウトのKêu! báhn mì deli（バインミー）と、ロンドン市内に4店を持つ。

Cây Tre SOHOは、広々として明るく、モダンなインテリアデザインと、従来の冴えないベトナム・レストランの常識を覆すおしゃれさ。でもソーホーという好立地に加え、内装にお金をかけているせいか、値段は他のグループ店に比べると割高。しかも、フォー£8.50（本店£6.50）、生春巻き£4.50（本店£3.50）、Com Saigon£9.50と、いい値段をとる割に量は少なく、キングスランド・ロード価格に慣れている身には不満が残る。グループ店も含め、味も人が絶賛するほど特段美味しいと思わないんだけれど。。。

それ以上にムカついたのは、昼過ぎで店内ガラガラにも関わらず、サービスが悪いこと。他店であれば10分もあれば出てくるフォーが、全部食べ終わっても出て来ない。完璧に忘れ去られていたようだが、文句を言ってもお詫びの言葉もなし。油汚れのついたお勘定の紙挟みもいただけない。

やっぱりベトナミーズはイースト・ロンドンで食べるのが一番だ。

Hoxton’s popular Vietnamese restaurant Cây Tre stretched its hand to the west; the Vietnamese Kitchen Group, the owner of Cây Tre as well as Viet Grill on Kingsland Road, London’s little Saigon, and recently opened Kêu! bánh mì deli, has opened a new venue in SOHO.

Cây Tre SOHO is spacious and cheerful, and its modern and stylish interior defies an image of conventional Vietnamese restaurants in London. But all these niceness, as well as its prime location of central London, cost us. Food are pricier than other sister restaurants: Phở £8.50 (Cây Tre Hoxton: £6.50); summer rolls £4.50 (Cây Tre Hoxton: £3.50); and Com Saigon £9.50, for example. Also the portion were quite small considering the high prices. Obviously value for money at the SOHO branch is unsatisfactory for people like me who are used to reasonable Kingsland Road prices. Though people seem to love the chain, I don’t think the taste of Cây Tre and other group restaurants is so better than other Vietnamese in Kingsland Road…

But the worst experience of the day was not the price or food, but its service. It was late afternoon and almost empty, as you can see in a photo, but M didn’t get his Phở even after I finished all my food an hour ago. Usually it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to get a bowl of noodles in any places, so obviously the waiter forgot the order. We complained, but no proper apology came back. Also I don’t like that our bill was given inside a fancy paper cover with greasy stains.

I would believe that the best place to eat Vietnamese is the East, after my experience in Cây Tre SOHO…

ポークのグリルに目玉焼きとご飯がついたCom Saigon £9.50/ Com Saigon £9.50: grilled pork and shredded pork fillet, served with a fried egg and rice

薄切り生牛肉ののったフォー £8.50 / Phở with thin sliced raw beef £8.50

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Banh Mi Bay Vietnamese Baguettes and Pho Café @ Clerkenwell

先日バスに乗ってる時に見かけた、クラーケンウェルに最近オープンしたベトナム・カフェ、Banh Mi Bay（バンミー・ベイ）に行ってみた。インテリアが素敵でカジュアルなベトナム・カフェは、ロンドンではあまり見かけないので、バンミー・ベイのオープンは嬉しい。その名の通り、バゲットに肉、キュウリやチリ、ハーブなどを挟んだベトナム風サンドイッチ、バインミーもあるるけれど、それ以外にもフォーやBánh canhの麺類、Bún（ブン）と呼ばれる麺を使ったサラダ、ご飯の上に串焼きの肉類などをのせたCom Dia、生春巻きや春巻き、そしてデザートなど、他のメニューも豊富。

ベトナム・レストランに行った時はいつもフォーを頼むんだけれど、今日は初めてBánh canh Thit Heo（£6。写真手前）にトライしてみた。豚からとったスープに、米粉やタピオカ粉、または小麦粉を混ぜて作った、半透明でモチモチした食感の太麺と、トッピングの豚肉とカニ肉が入っている。正直、この太麺はあんまり好みではないけれど、スープはコクがあるけれどもさっぱりしていて美味しい。サイドディッシュの生春巻き（£3.50）は、通常の材料以外にスライスした豚肉が入っていて、その塩味が隠し味となって、なかなかいける。でも個人的には、ピーナッツの入った海鮮醤（HOISIN SAUCE。中国の甘味噌）のたれより、魚醤のほうがさっぱりしていて好きなんだけれども。食後は、コンデンスミルクのたっぷり入ったベトナム風アイスコーヒー。カロリー高そうだけれど、やっぱり美味しい。

Banh Mi Bay * 4-6 Theobalds Road, Holborn, London WC1X 8PN * tel 020 7831 4079 * nearest Tube: Holborn | Chancery Lane

We went to Banh Mi Bay, newly opened Vietnamese café in Clerkenwell. I found the café when I was looking outside in the bus. It is hard to find a cute and casual Vietnamese in London, and the opening of Banh Mi Bay is welcome for us. As the name suggests, Bánh mì, a Vietnamese baguette sandwich, is their specialty, but also a variety of dishes like Phở and Bánh canh noodle soup, Bún rice vermicelli noodle salad, Com Dia (steamed rice served with meat of your choice or tofu), and a selection of appetizers such as summer rolls and spring rolls are also available, as well as deserts.

I always order Phở every time I go to a Vietnamese, but today I tried Bánh canh Thit Heo (£6, left in the photo below) for the first time. Bánh canh is half-transparent thick Vietnamese noodle that can be made from a mixture of purified rice and tapioca powder or wheat flour, and their Bánh canh is in light pork broth, with pork shoulder and some crab meat on the top (front in the photo below). I am not a big fan of the glutinous noodle, but the soup had good flavor and was quite nice. We got summer rolls as a side, and their summer rolls are made of sliced pork as well as usual ingredients inside, and it adds extra nice savory taste to the dish. But I don’t fancy thick and sweet Hoisin sauce, and I wish I had the summer rolls with fish sauce instead. The Vietnamese iced coffee with plenty of condensed milk after the meal was tasty (of course because it was sweet!), though probably very high in calories.