Cheap nosh thrill

It's not unusual to see people queuing to get in through the unassuming doors of Cay Tre (sweetly subtitled The Vietnamese Kitchen). And it's hardly surprising. This is good food at seriously good value. We ordered about three starters each, main courses, water and copious amounts of wine and still didn't manage to spend £30 a head.

You wouldn't call this sophisticated cooking - it's all a bit hand-knitted - but it's vibrant, flavourful and honest, zingy with the astringent and aromatic flavours of Vietnam. Tightly wrapped little spring rolls were packed with beef, hot and crispy; they came with a hot sweet-sour dip.

Really gorgeous was 'beef wrapped in fragrant sapu leaves' (nope, me neither; nor was the somewhat morose waiter any help): yielding, meaty-herby mouthfuls. An entertaining bit of theatre, where monkfish, mint and improbable amounts of dill were sauteed at the table and served with a curious greyish shrimp sauce, chillis and peanuts, resulted in a surprisingly alluring mix, served on top of slithery, cold rice noodles.

Just plain weird - bouncy and Germolene pink - was a Vietnamese resto staple: spongy prawn paste wrapped round sugar cane. Mains dipped a little: spicy satay noodles with chicken were corner takeaway quality; barbecue pork loin with rice vermicelli was sticky and seductively blackened from the grill but was a bit one-note. Still, quibbles. This is a top spot for a cheap nosh thrill.

Cay Tre
Old Street, London, EC1V 9LA