Where: 55 Đường Trần Quốc Toản, Phường 8, Quận 3, Hồ Chí Minh
Type: Indoor Café
Offer: Drinks and some food
Price: $$
This little café is located in District 3, near the end of Pasteur and Le Van Tam park. It is actually above a Circle K shop. The entrance is in a small alley of Đường Trần. If you go there by motorbike you can park it at the food place opposite the café.
I must admit, the entrance via the little alley already indicates the character of this café. Through the door you are welcomed by a small entrance area with a painting on one side, and some old colonial style doors and window decoration. A small stairwell then leads you to the café.
As you might have guessed by the name, this café theme is retro items (well – it is quite obvious and thankfully I was not mislead by the name). And it is done in a great way in my opinion. Throughout the café you can spot old televisions, cameras, cassette player and other electronic items either on shelves or on tables. In addition old posters and pictures are on the wall. I loved passing the various shelves to look at the authentic items.
The furniture is kept in this theme. The chairs, tables and sofas clearly fitted in the retro look, adding more to this nice atmosphere. It really is lovely and not cheesy.
This place also has a little balcony where you can sit outside to either enjoy some fresh air while watching the traffic below – or you just can have a cigarette.
This is a rather quiet place, the music (again, following the theme playing music form the 50’s and 60’s) playing quietly in the background, though still loud enough to enjoy it. You can easily sit down here, read a book, do some work or having a quiet conversation with friends. A great place for all those things. So if you go with friends here, try to respect that.
The café mainly serves drinks, covering the usual from coffee, juices to smoothies. They even sell beer here (which is not the standard in café). The ca phe sua da was very nice, though for the lime juice I had to order some more sugar ( a bit too bitter for me). I actually want to return as some of the other drinks on the menu sound rather intriguing.
They also have a limited selection of snacks – chips, Banh Mi Op La or Instant noodles with egg and kim chi. I had the latter and I must admit it was very tasty. So if you need small lunch you can get it here.
Overall it is a lovely place, the decoration of a retro look is in my opinion spot on. The drinks and food options are nice, and the atmosphere is very relaxing. So come here if you need some peace and quiet to work or just to switch off.
Rating: 8/10
(First visited December 2018)
