Came across the new Tre Caphe at Suntec City Mall whilst going to yet another eatery the other day — hidden in the basement of Suntec City Mall, Tre Caphe takes over the former space of EAT in the mall — this also makes them neighbours with Kebabchi Charcoal BBQ, which is another fairly recently addition to the shopping gallery. Taking up a corner unit, Tre Caphe’s interior is decked in a way that is full of Vietnamese flavour — think wooden dining furniture from its chairs to its tables with straw hats that hang above from the ceiling. Tre Caphe serves up quite a large variety of Vietnamese cuisine on their menu — the menu being categorised into several different sections such as that of Tre Starter, Tre Hotpot, Tre Signature Soup Noodles, Tre Dry Noodles Set, Tre Specialty Rice Set, Tre Vegan Set and Tre Handmade Desserts. Tre Caphe also does have a pretty good variety of beverages being listed in the menu; think sections of the beverage menu which is dedicated to Tre Signature Coffee, Tre Specialty Coffee, Tre Iced Soda, Tre Iced Tea, Tre Original Juice, and Tre Soft Drinks.

Skimming through the menu for a dry noodle item to have, we were actually pretty intrigued by the Charcoal Grill Skew Pork with Mesh Noodles Set which was listed on the Tre Dry Noodles Set section of the menu. The Charcoal Grill Skew Pork with Mesh Noodles Set pretty much came with what was being described in its namesake — think three sticks of skewered pork that has been charcoal-grilled, rice vermicelli that is served flat and with a rectangular shape in a meshed form (a little similar to that of the looks of Putu Mayyam but all cut-up in rectangular pieces), a saucer containing fish sauce infused with chili, as well as an assortment of vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, pickled carrots and radishes and other greens.

On first look, one can easily call the Charcoal Grill Skew Pork with Mesh Noodles Set an item that is heavily inspired by the Bun Cha; in fact, the elements featured in the Charcoal Grill Skew Pork with Mesh Noodles Set, as well as the approach of consuming it were almost identical to that of the Bun Cha save for the twist in its presentation. Dipping the mesh noodles into the fish sauce, we liked how the mesh noodles carried a texture that made it seem like an elevated form of a Bun Cha; the mesh noodles seem to hold its shape well being springy with crispy edges — carried a savoury hint of flavours as one dips it into the umami fish sauce. We would assume that one would then portion a bit of the skewered pork and wrap everything else, including the mesh noodles, into the lettuce leaf; something almost akin to that of the Ssam dishes in Korean dining culture. The savoury and smoky notes from the skewered pork would be the main driver here; the skewered pork also being especially tender and does not require much effort to chew through — a bit similar to that of the Thai Moo Ping, while the pickled vegetables cut through all of the savouriness with its tangy flavour. Further enhancing all of those flavours would be the various leafy components, which made the dish a really refreshing yet flavoursome one to have.

It is difficult not to compare Tre Caphe with VietSmith; the latter being yet another Vietnamese restaurant with a contemporary approach that had opened within the same time period of Tre Caphe at Millenia Walk. Between the two, Tre Caphe is the more traditional establishment, offering patrons a more authentic taste of Vietnamese cuisine overall. Apart from the Charcoal Grill Skew Pork with Mesh Noodles Set, we had also tried the other dishes such as the Pho TRE signature — essentially their rendition of the special beef pho or beef combination pho at other Vietnamese establishments. The Pho TRE signature consists of beef slices, beef shank and beef balls in a “Special recipe Pho Soup” that is said to be simmered for 10 hours — the soup being especially flavoursome and good to have on its own, while the beef balls were really interesting to have. We had also tried the Pandan Sago Ball; pandan-infused sago shaped into balls with mung bean filling sitting in a pool of coconut milk — a dessert item that featured heavily the fragrance of the rich coconut milk and the hint of Pandan amidst that nuttiness coming from the peanuts. Even the Egg Coffee was on point; the egg custard “macchiato” layer is especially fragrant and noticeable even when one mixes in all of that egg custard and condensed milk into the coffee — not overly sweet as well. With prices of the individually-sized main dishes being priced from $14.80 to $29.80 (most of the dishes falling under $20), prices at Tre Caphe can be said to be higher than that of some other Vietnamese establishments — though still pretty reasonable considering the location which it is situated at. Tre Caphe does seem like a spot worthy to check out that would work especially great for those looking to try out Vietnamese fare for the very first time; one with a pleasant dining environment and with quite a good variety of items that are not particularly adventurous or intimidating to have — also one that we will gladly revisit again!