Review

One of the hidden gems of Cambridge's Magdalene Street has to be this pretty little Vietnamese restaurant. Tucked in among a parade of art galleries, posh hi-fi and designer shops is Thanh Binh. The Hoang family moved its cafe here from Regent Street eight years ago and now sell handmade ceramics, beautiful silk scarves and decorated bags alongside a wide range of freshly cooked authentic Vietnamese food.

We went for the fried soft shelled crab (Cua Rang Me) as one of our starters - and yes it was a crab. Complete with claws and legs and body which our friendly waiter advised us to eat in its entirety - tendons, sinews, crunchy bits, the lot!

Having admired the handicrafts, loved the decorative mother of pearl inlaid wood panelling and been shown to our immaculately clean, carefully laid table - now to the food. To those unfamiliar with Vietnamese cuisine, the menu is full of surprises and some of the dishes can be a bit of challenge.

We went for the fried soft shelled crab (Cua Rang Me) as one of our starters - and yes it was a crab. Complete with claws and legs and body which our friendly waiter advised us to eat in its entirety - tendons, sinews, crunchy bits, the lot. It was a challenge too far for us I'm afraid. The Hai Sau Cuon crab tartlet was more digestible - light and delicately flavoured on julienne of steamed vegetables. The pancakes chosen by our neighbouring diners looked extremely good.

A basic of Vietnamese cuisine is the Pho noodle soup - this was the choice of the clearly more experienced diners on the next table, it looked deep, well filled and good value for money.

The main courses are tempting and well described, and with duck, beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian options there's going to be something to suit everyone. We opted for the duck version of Vit Hon, a spicy dish reminiscent of a Thai curry and served with the most delicious lightly steamed rice. We ventured a bit off piste for the other main course. Described as king fish, Ca Thu Kho was a massive slab of strong flavoured fish with the most enormous backbone. Its teryaki style sauce was equally powerful and together they made an interesting, but palatable, combination.

The puddings proved to be another surprise - with options of home made ice cream which could have come from Devon! Manager Thu Hoang explained that modern Vietnamese cooking has been subject to many influences, most recently French and American, hence the 'tradition' of ice cream. We tried the ginger and vanilla versions and both were scrumptious!

Green bean cake and red bean pudding were less familiar dessert options and the oriental sponge cake ? green in colour, light and fluffy in texture was just asking to be gobbled up!

Thanh Binh is unlicensed, but they encourage to bring your own bottle of wine on which they charge a nominal corkage per person. Their own range of non-alcoholic drinks include fresh lime juice which is both full of flavour and sweet and sharp and intensely refreshing. A great palette cleanser. To round off there is a range of teas and coffees - the latter is served with condensed milk according to the menu. We tried the chrysanthemum tea! Which once you?d got over the feeling you were drinking the water from a vase of flowers, was pretty good!

Well worth a visit, Thanh Binh will cater for special occasions and it is possible to book out the whole of the downstairs for large parties. Choose from the menu carefully, and you are in for a real treat.