Travel News

www.grandviewhotel.vn: People in HCMC seem to do everything in a coffee shop - hang out with friends, read books, listen to music, have a club meeting, or discuss business matters. In fact, a trendy Saigonese cannot be himself without his favorite café.

Inviting new friends to your special café is almost a ritual - sending the message that you are ready to let them enter your inner circle and reveal your true feelings to them. A trendy coffee shop with loud music might not be the place for intimate conversations. Luckily, besides the huge coffee shops downtown, there are cozy cafes here and there, such as the Hoa Coffee Shop (Flower Coffee Shop), 430/7 Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, HCMC's District 10.Hoa Cafe offers a startling contrast to the dusty road outside. Located in a working-class neighborhood, the coffee shop with white walls doesn't stand out, except for the stained glass windows and doors that have an air of mystery. The local market, the haggling and chaos on the street are left behind as you slump in the big comfortable sofa where you can see the daily panic outside through the window.

Tien, the owner of the shop and a young graduate from University of Architecture, said he had adapted his own house to use as the coffee shop. So everything in Hoa Cafe, like the small bookshelf, the framed music sheets, the jazz and blues and hot meals cooked by Tien's mother makes visitors feel at home. Hoa cafe gives the pleasant illusion that everybody knows each other, but they are just too busy with their own thoughts or too deep in conversation to say hi.

The centre of Hoa Cafe is of course flowers. Daisies and carnations pop up out of nowhere where you'd least expect - on the ceiling, or in an old laboratory bottle.

Isn't it amazing, that the bottles that were once full of toxic chemical are filled with flowers.

If you are lucky, you may bump into a group of friends practicing for their weekend performance on the weekend.

If you have a mania for coffee shops like many people who live in HCMC, you definitely should add Hoa Cafe to your checklist of places-to-go next weekend.

Source: Saigontimes