One of the things I love about Bearwood is the range and diversity of its eateries. There’s always something new opening up on the Bearwood Road and you can eat your way around the world. This time I tried out Oak Ca Phe, a Vietnamese cafe.
The cafe has a prominent high street position with a modern style. It’s heavy on greenery inside, but I’m afraid it’s the plastic variety. That said it’s a nice modern decor and there’s a range of seating from central tables, wall bench style seating and higher tables. Our table seated four, but it’s easy to pull up seats and accommodate a larger group.
It’s a cafe that seems to do well with young mums and their babies. This is probably in part because of the generously sized toilets with changing station. This music was a bit loud for my taste – I like to be able able to chat easily and I think it could have been problematic for a bigger party, but it worked well for the two of us.
We started off by ordering apple teas flavoured with cinnamon and star anise. These were warming and aromatic, perfect for an autumnal day, and in very generously sized cups. The teas were priced at £4 each.
Next up, my friend ordered the Cinnamon Bun French Toast with mascarpone, mixed roasted nuts, blueberry compôte, raspberries and maple syrup. As you can see it’s pretty as a picture and I’m told it was as delicious as it looks. For its £12 price tag it didn’t seem the greatest value, but being great tasting and promptly served helped make up for that.
I opted for the Chilli Beans Spinach Bowl. This was aromatic and flavoursome without too much heat. Described as slow-cooked butter beans, wilted spinach, feta, pickled peppadew, toasted sourdough and chilli oil, this was velvety-textured, unctuous mix. The toasted sourdough provided the perfect foil the butter beans mixture. It was enough food, but not the most filling portion.
Would I eat there again? Yes I’d like to, but in all honesty I’d probably go for somewhere with larger portions or more reasonable prices. It’s worth going to try out Vietnamese food that done well and the service was prompt and attentive.
Disclosure: I paid for my own food at Oak Ca Phe.
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