Metropole cafe reopens in Vietnam
After a 95-year absence, a sidewalk cafe that was part of "little Paris of the tropics" has reopened at the famous luxury Metropole Hotel in the heart of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
La Terrasse du Metropole duplicates the look of a Parisian street cafe on one corner of the white facaded hotel that has a room named for late English author Graham Greene, who wrote about the last days of French colonial rule in 1950s Vietnam.
"Our customers cannot always experience the real life of Hanoi and with this terrace they will be able to enjoy our service and meet Vietnamese people," said Gilles Cretallaz, 41, general manager of Sofitel Metropole Hotel as it is now named.
The old Metropole Cafe closed after just 10 years in 1911.
The hotel, which opened in 1901, was a gathering point for high society a century ago and it was referred to as "little Paris of the tropics" according to travel guides.
"We hope this time we will be able to keep this terrace open," Cretallaz said as motorcycles whizzed by on the road outside.
On opening night, the cafe received its first guests including ambassadors to the communist-run Southeast Asian country.
Before the opening, Hanoi authorities asked the hotel to make security changes because it is close to some embassies and a government building used for official events.
The establishment will face competition from several other sidewalk cafes that are increasingly popular among Vietnamese.
Reuters - May 11, 2006.
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