Cotton Tree

November 7, 2024

Cotton Tree is another new Vietnamese restaurant located in Gigiri. It has such a beautiful outdoor setup, the decor is very boho chic. It has lots of greenery and space for kids to play in. So because of its popularity, you can’t be assured of space if you just walk in, you definitely need a reservation. I tried to call in the morning to make a reservation but no one answered the phone so I decided to just go and try my luck.

Their menu is nice and succinct but it being a paper menu means it gets tainted quickly but if they don’t mind doing reprints every time, I guess that’s okay too. I started off with some coffee, the bartender recommended the white brown iced coffee (Bac xîu, KSH350). Vietnamese coffee remains top of the leaderboard, it’s so good! So good I had to have it twice. It has sweet condensed milk and whipped cream at the top, making it an elevated style of iced coffee, so yum!

We tried a few items from the menu: sweet chilli wings (KSH1250), crispy pork spring rolls (KSH1400), seafood fried rice and Hanoi kebab rice noodles (KSH1600). First of all… tell me why people are charging KSH1250 for wings??? With no fries, no nothing… in this economy?? Ruto must go please. That pricing is wild.

The crispy pork spring rolls were way too oily, and tasted a bit dull. They were really lacking in flavour (for me) even with the addition of the sauce. The spring rolls have a very paste-like taste maybe because they’re also infused with noodles in the spring roll. The seafood rice was so delicious! It had a good amount of calamari and prawns and was paired with a nice sweet & spicy sauce.

The Hanoi kebab rice noodle was quite a labour of a meal but a very colourful one and very filling and tasty. It’s deconstructed so you have to put things together as you eat it but like… why?? Feels like too much work. I had the soup heated because I’m not a lover of cold food. Also on drinks, I had the sunrise mocktail and enjoyed it.

Now on service… The service here was super slow! Those same chicken wings were not only meh… but why did I wait for damn near 40min for wings to be served?? The wait staff were barely checking in on us, if I wasn’t in the line of sight of the bartender who would then find someone to come to our table, I don’t think we would ever get served. I don’t know if this is normal everyday but this was a Sunday and it was a full house so just be wary of that. The manager Ian, was very accommodating though, he’s the one who assured me a table to make up for the phone not being answered in the morning and welcomed all our feedback and comments from our visit here.

Cotton Tree is nice and perfect for a weekend family lunch plan or with friends. Perfect for a sunny day out for drinks, it also works for events like birthdays etc., as they have the space for it. It’s pricey so plan your wallet accordingly and their service definitely needs work.

Foodwise - I think I prefer the food from Măm Măm, the other Vietnamese restaurant compared to the food here, but as always, these are just my thoughts, so you should go experience it for yourself and see.