South Croydon Vietnamese

I’ve been a bit remiss recently on reporting on my restaurant visits, which have included Jia in South Kensington again, Mayfair Garden in North Audley Street and Ember Yard in Berwick Street.  But as we have now returned for the fifth time to a new Vietnamese restaurant on the “strip” in South Croydon, I thought I had to make the effort.

 

Cat Ba Island took over from the Mae Ping Thai restaurant in South End back in January.  We’ve been there just the two of us a couple of times, and with P&M and with H.  And then today we went again. As you can guess, we quite like it there!

 

The menu is extensive, with a big selection of Pho dishes – we haven’t tried those, but P did and was well satisfied. They are massive bowls of soup and noodles with whatever protein you choose.

 

Aside from the Pho, the menu is huge – as are the portions.  Starters we have enjoyed include minced pork with lemongrass, rice paper duck rolls, crispy pork and crabmeat spring rolls, raw beef with herbs, soft-shell crab.  These are nearly enough on their own to fill you up.

 

Main courses have included a pork belly in a roasting pot with tea-light, chilli prawns (8 in a portion) or king prawn tamarind, sizzling beef, wok-fried “shaking” beef and a magnificently presented crispy fillet of sea bass, with the rest of the fish wrapped around it.  There are dozens of other rice and noodle dishes too.

 

The Australian house wines – Hidden Road Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot – are incredibly priced at £14, which for the Williams family means a great reduction in the bill.  Service is friendly and reasonably efficient (“Quick wine”), and the atmosphere nice and friendly. This Friday it was very busy and buzzing, yet the service was still rapid – too fast if anything. 

 

So full marks to Cat Ba Island. It’s not sophisticated, but hard to beat for value.