Vegan-friendly
Chinese
Delivery
Take-out
Vietnamese
Non-veg
Serves meat, vegan options available. Offers a separate veg food menu with a variety of mock meats. Menu is based on a fusion of traditional Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine. Has space for private party. Relocated from Dean St. Confirmed open September 2021. Open Tue-Sun 12:00-21:00.
69 Reviews
First Review by Katherinef
ClareNewbold
Points +82
Great vegetarian options - Edit
Really nice place, the staff are helpful. I'm sure they also do vegan food. Really great vegetarian menu
Read moreCons: It is a llittle expensive for what you pay for
Guest
larafullerton
Points +102
Didn’t disappoint! - Edit
I ordered take-away. Only waited 15 mins! I had Vietnamese spring rolls (tofu and veg), garlic and chilli ‘mock chicken’ and a strawberry milkshake (made with soya milk and dairy free ice cream) - all tasted amazing and the portion sizes were very generous. The staff were friendly, helpful and were able to clarify the vegan options.
Read morePros: Staff are helpful, Generous portion sizes, Short wait time
Guest
Ljmeep
Points +513
good food - Edit
I love eating here because you get so much choice and the staff are always helpful
Read moreGuest
JamesDaley
Points +163
Fantastic food - Edit
I went to Cafe Soya for the first time last year & cannot wait to return. The starter platter was amazing, the first time I have ever tasted veggie/vegan prawn toast. Plenty of vegan options & mock meat choices (prawn, chicken, duck etc).
Read morePros: Great vegan options, Mock meat dishes, Spacious
Guest
jayhay23
Points +247
Ode to Soy - Edit
Lovely homely Chinese food with great vegan menu, well labelled, good portions. We have found service a little slow when we've been there but otherwise a great joint
Read moreGuest
djsilent
Points +36
Why O Why Cafe Soya - Edit
This used to be my favourite spot in Birmingham. I was able to have work lunches, celebrate birthdays and karoke parties here.
Read moreHowever, I believe my dish was cross contaminated on my last visit. I told the waiter that there was a piece of chicken in my dish and he was adamant that it was mock chicken.
Instead of him apologising and taking the dish away, he just shook his head and said no way is this meat as our kitchen uses different pots, blah, blah..
I would have given the restaurant previous to this incident 4 stars as it has been my go to Birmingham spot but cross contamination is no joke so I will have to rate it 2 stars until someone from Café Soya makes an apology and steps are made to divide the kitchen preparation area.
I will be contacting Cafe Soya directly based on mine and other reviews so this doesn't happen again.
Guest
hillbill
Points +178
Nice Chinese food and vegan friendly... - Edit
Lots of vegan choice and the staff are friendly and know what a vegan can and can't eat!
Read moreFood is standard Chinese fayre, if you like this kind of food, you won't be disappointed.
Pros: Vegan friendly, Lots of choice
Cons: Serves meat too :-(, Food can be a little oily
Guest
Kfds15
Points +180
Great value for money - Edit
Great value for money. Massive portions lots of variation. Four pages in the menu. They cook everything separately so it is actually vegan and the service was great. I would give five stars but app won't let me.
Read morePros: good price , fills you up , lots of choice
Cons: I wish I had one in my town
Guest
Olabusi
Points +198
I love it ! - Edit
Lots of vegan options, very tasty dishes and nice staff. When I lived in Birmingham, it was the place that I most often visited. :)
Read moreGuest
konlish
Points +5628
ok - Edit
I found the place spacious, nice seating however quite noisy with people speaking loudly. Orders took long to come like 30 mins.
Read moreThey have a good selection for vegetarians, vegans must specify no eggs and to clean utensils when cooking your dish.
We ordered mock fish, it was too real to my liking. Not my taste I shall stick to the tofu. I liked the side dishes stir fried mushroom rice and the stir friend onion and garlic rice.
I am not fond of the wet dishes as they are too sweet. They use alot of oil in their dishes.
I prefer healthier meals. I would recomend it for anyone who likes Chinese and mock meat.
Pros: Vegan options
Cons: Serves secretions and flesh, Noisy, Long waiting time
Guest
sXe_22
Points +574
Awesome Chinese - Edit
I really recommend this place if you want some good chinese (or vietnamese) food. They say they love soya and they actually prove it serving very tasty food. Mock meat and tofu dishes, but also plenty of other vegan options.
Read moreQuite big portions: I am a bottomless pit but struggled to finish two dishes + boiled rice. Price seems fair, I paid £ 15 for my dinner.
Guest
September Kestrel
Points +26
Best Vegan Restaurant in Birmingham - Edit
I love Cafe Soya, and it seems to be the favourite of a lot of other vegans too!
Read moreThe variety on the menu is overwhelming, prepare to take an embarrassingly long time to order and have to tell the waiters you need more time! They do several kinds of soya milkshake, possibly the most delicious rice dishes I have ever had, noodle dishes I have yet to sample much to my sorrow and pretty much every kind of fake meat curry you can imagine. Much of it is very spicy but you can pick less spciy dishes, there are guides on the menu.There's a kids menu too. And the building is beautiful and spacious.
Not to mention the portion sizes...those have to be the biggest portions I have ever been served.
Only downside? Their delicious looking bubble tea is not vegan. Its got milk in it. Not fair.
Pros: Variety and Choice, The Rice Dishes!!, Lovely Setting
Cons: Non-vegan Bubble Tea, Staff are occasionally a bit hazy , Not Cheapest
Guest
Greysocialist
Points +403
Value and choice - Edit
So hard to choose what to eat when the vegetarian options are so numerous! Portions were huge so after delicious soups we shared a main. We'll be back to try some of the other dishes. Very friendly and helpful staff. Lots of tables at the Chinatown branch, so a good chance of getting in. We found it open on a Sunday night and that seems to be usual.
Read morePros: Choice, Flavour, Spaciousness
Guest
katandmike
Points +159
excellent food 5 stars - Edit
there are two restaurants, one in china town and one next to the travelodge, central bullring.
Read moreboth are excellent food and they do make their soya milk on site and I think the tofu as well. The menu is red for the meat section and green for the veg section.
This has been the best most traditional vegan chinese I have eaten in the UK to date now.
Service is wonderful, they are very happy and the lunch meal for £6.95 is excellent, offering an entree, main course and desert, it's worth every penny.
My husband and I ate here 4 times in the 3 days we stayed in Birmingham and look forward to trying the rest of the dishes when we return.
We ate spicy peppercorn tofu which was beautiful, lovely with additional touches of fried garlic coriander, chilli, red capsicum and sweet chilli sauce. The Wonton soup was lovelyy, a little salty but matched well with the noodles and dumplings. The Hor Fun noodles fried with chicken in the lunch menu were excellent, the chicken tasty and the noodles the best I've eaten in the UK and also freshly made on premises.
the sesame prawn toast was enjoyable, seemed to be made with pumpkin and a nice entrée. I wasn't so impressed with the dumplings, but I much prefer to make my own so I'm pretty fussy.
My husband loved the crispy aromatic duck and pancakes which were a large dish offered in a quarter or half dish.
My favourite dish was the Pipa tofu, fried balls of mixed tofu and veg in a beautiful gravy and again incredibly cheap for the effort that went into the dish.
The side order of Hor-fun was great for £2.60. sweet tofu desert and fried banana were beautiful.
To be honest the food made me homesick for my old regular chinese veg restaurants.
We certainly pigged out in this restaurant and couldn't get enough.
Try the Hot soya milk and the desert of soya curd in sweet sauce if you like tofu. This place serves the best quality tofu I have had outside of Taiwan.
This restaurant is so good, we are moving closer to it!
Updated from previous review on Wednesday November 20, 2013
Pros: tofu, soya meat, price
Cons: not closer to where i live, not totally vegan
Guest
Katherinef
Points +22
Great vegan and veggie choice - Edit
Despite the name, its not a vegetarian restaurant, but it does have a separate veggie menu - just ask for it. They generally understand what a vegan is, so you can ask if what you've chosen is vegan. Though they dont know if any of the wines are vegan, i think they're probably not.
Read moreThe food is consistently really good, though these days I tend to order the same thing every time! I ordered a fake meat type dish once, but found there was too much fake meat, and not enough vegetables. You can ask for extra tofu to be added to anything - yum yum!
Pros: Consistently great quality food, Great choice of veggie and vegan dishes
Cons: No info on whether wine is vegan, Desserts aren't that good.
Guest
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