Cây Tre in the Press

Since opening in Shoreditch in 2003, Cây Tre has been part of London’s Vietnamese food story. Founded by Hiếu Bùi, the restaurant has grown from its Shoreditch location to include a second restaurant on Dean Street in Soho, while staying rooted in traditional Vietnamese cooking.

More than two decades on, Cây Tre continues to attract recognition from London’s leading food publications. From its early days introducing Vietnamese food to a wider London audience to being named the city’s best Vietnamese restaurant for phở by Time Out in 2025, Cây Tre has established itself as a London Vietnamese institution.

In March 2025, Time Out named Cây Tre Soho the number one Vietnamese restaurant in London, topping its definitive list of the city's 20 best Vietnamese restaurants.

Written by British Vietnamese chef and food writer Thuy Hoang, the guide named Cây Tre “Best for phở”, singling out the restaurant’s signature bone marrow phở. The dish comes topped with a marrowbone cooked in the broth and finished under a robata, while the beef broth is made by simmering bones for 24 hours with spices including cinnamon and star anise.

Time Out also highlighted Cây Tre’s Hanoi platter, bún đậu mắm tôm, a Northern Vietnamese speciality served with blood sausage and fermented shrimp dipping sauce.

The recognition builds on Time Out’s longstanding relationship with Cây Tre. In its July 2024 review of the original Shoreditch restaurant, Time Out described it as “Shoreditch’s OG Vietnamese restaurant”, crediting the restaurant with giving many East Londoners their first taste of phở and helping to establish London’s Vietnamese food scene.

The review again highlighted the 24-hour beef-bone broth and bone marrow phở, alongside the Hanoi platter, and described Cây Tre as a destination for a deep dive into authentic Northern Vietnamese cuisine.

Cây Tre’s Soho restaurant has also attracted praise from Hot Dinners, which highlighted the restaurant’s bright, contemporary interiors and small-plates approach.

The publication noted that Cây Tre’s Soho restaurant offers a different experience from the original branch, while remaining part of the same Vietnamese Kitchen family alongside Viet Grill and Kêu.

Cây Tre’s reputation goes back to its earliest years. Writing for The Guardian, restaurant critic Jay Rayner visited the Shoreditch restaurant and praised its tableside cooking, particularly the La Vong grilled fish.

The dish of monkfish marinated with galangal and saffron was cooked at the table, alongside rice noodles, herbs, peanuts and chilli. Rayner described the experience as both theatrical and intensely flavoured, before turning his attention to Cây Tre’s phở.

SquareMeal has described Cây Tre as an established favourite among Shoreditch’s office workers, club-goers and night owls, praising its broad Vietnamese menu and value.

Its coverage has highlighted everything from crispy Devon crab and glass noodle wraps to braised Mekong catfish, grilled monkfish with galangal, turmeric and dill, spicy lamb neck curry and clay-pot dishes.

The publication has also highlighted the restaurant’s busy, energetic atmosphere and its combination of dine-in and takeaway trade.

For more than 20 years, Cây Tre has evolved alongside London’s Vietnamese food scene. Shoreditch helped introduce a generation of Londoners to Vietnamese cooking, while the Soho restaurant brought the same approach to one of the capital’s busiest dining neighbourhoods.

Today, both restaurants continue to focus on traditional Vietnamese cooking, from carefully prepared phở and regional specialities to fresh herbs, aromatic broths and dishes designed to be shared.