Tried the family friendly cafe next to a lovely park just down the road from Birmingham

It’s been a few weeks since Oak Ca Phe opened just around the corner from Lightwoods Park and I couldn’t wait. I try to give restaurants a few weeks to settle in before I go with my critic hat on, and that was difficult with the latest addition to Bearwood Road.

The Vietnamese restaurant caught my eye early on because it had so much promise. Big pastries, Vietnamese style coffee and food that sounded so intriguing. Bunthit nuong, a type of vermicelli noodle, was calling me and so on Friday, it was a call I finally answered.

Bearwood Road is simply wicked, a veritable detour of brilliant places serving food from different parts of the world. Slowly but surely, I’m making my way.

Read more: Went to an amazing bakery in Birmingham with great food and even better people watching

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It was the last day of the half term holiday week and so when I arrived there was no room left in the house. We had the option of sitting at a bar near the right wall, and while some diners decided not to bother, we happily parked.

It is a very well-appointed space, comfortable and familiar and full of plants, both real and artificial. I filled a glass from the lime water bottle on the bar and looked over the menu.

The pho and curry bowls looked good, as did the plates of stir-fried vegetables, chicken wings, beef bo sot vang and cha gio spring rolls. I ordered a coconut iced coffee (£4.95) and that nuong vermicelli noodle bowl bun I’d tried (£14.95 for the oyster mushroom veg option, but they also do chicken leg at grill, at the same price).

I was surprised how many families with children were there. There is no ‘safe’ option for chicken nuggets and chips, so that was nice to see. Bearwood Babs are adventurous, sure!

The waiter was great and helped me with the pronunciation of the dish while taking my order. The ambiance is really nice and relaxed, the service friendly and attentive (they allayed any concerns I had about the fish sauce) and the decor, beautiful.

There is a really nice long table for eight in the center of the room with a low false ceiling with plants hanging over it. It all feels very comfortable, yet light and bright.

I’ve been very spoiled by Vietnamese coffee, and the strong robusta they serve at Tranquil 1992 in the Jewelery Quarter has quickly become my favorite drink in the city, with both the egg and coconut coffee delivering every time.

This one can’t really compare, not that it needs to. There was a thick layer of syrupy condensed milk at the bottom of the glass, which is great, but the coffee itself lacked the strength I wanted. Not sure if they serve robusta but it didn’t taste like that, the flavor wasn’t strong enough to balance the condensed milk. The coconut iceberg made this a nice drink, though.

A bottle of sriracha, legitimate Flying Goose good stuff, and a cute little jar of chili oil that looks homemade was brought over. Looks like I might need them.

The bowl looked beautiful when it arrived, colorful with bright greens from the cucumber, crispy golden fried mushrooms and orange pepper. There was a small pot of dipping sauce, an alternative to sour, intensely salty fish sauce.

The mushrooms were perfect and there were lots of them. Loads and loads. They were so hot and fresh they were almost lethally crunchy, like veggie-friendly scratchings. I bit into one and everyone in Bearwood turned off their televisions to ask “What was that noise?!”

I enjoyed topping them with the white onion slices and pepper. There’s also fried shallots on top, alongside what I now call a Nan salad; a bit of green salad that looks like it has seen better days and cucumber rounds. I imagined a large handful of aromatics, but apart from a single sprig of cilantro, a lone leaf bearing the burden, there is nothing to be seen.

The spring roll I didn’t expect to find in my bowl was beautiful, filled with distinct muk yee mushrooms and glassy vermicelli. It was hot and oily and felt like a treat, I was sad when I finished it.

All of this sat on top of a bed of vermicelli, plain and dry. There are a lot of them too and I had to be strategic about my drizzle. Sriracha and chili oil come into play at times like this.

The mushroom I enjoyed at first started to dry out my mouth considering how salty it was. Along with the drizzle, I felt like I was consuming 467 times the recommended daily allowance of sodium, although I’m sure that’s not the case in reality.

I was full before I was even halfway through the bowl and it felt a bit wasteful. I wish I had gone for the pho, sure a broth would have made it better. I’d be interested to see if you get aromatics on this as well.

I paid my bill, but not before grabbing a pastry from the sweets counter to try later at the office. The berry tart is more cream than anything and I like it, although it’s not as big and fluffy as I wanted for something that costs the best part of a fiver. I was spoiled by the supremes at Perch, clearly.

All in all, a nice cafe in a really cool part of town. Definitely room for improvement in terms of food, but I’d be hard pressed to go back given how many brilliant options there are in Bearwood. Luckily they don’t need me – the place seems to be constantly crushed as it is, so I’m doing something right!

Oak Ca Phe is at 614 Bearwood Road, Bearwood, B66 4BW. This review was independent, random, and food and drink were paid for by the reviewer.