Taking it easy at the Exchange Cafe
 | Cosy comfort: The Exchange Cafe's interior on the second and third floors is reminiscent of a 1970s French brasserie.
|
 | Food for thought: Above: Pumpkin soup "that tastes of vegetables rather than cream". Below: Stewed beef udon noodle. - VNS Photos Truong Vi
| Exchange Cafe
Add: 2b Trang Tien Lane
Tel: 04 39 36 40 73
Price: Prices range around VND100 000 for a set lunch, VND90 000 for a starter and VND150 000 for a main course.
Hour: 6.30am - 23pm
Comment: A range of meat and fish dishes with great sauces, as well as exquisite starters, like the Exchange special: fresh spring rolls and pineapple rolled in bacon. |
|
The Exchange Cafe is far more than a good-food restaurant. People go there to unwind and have a chat. Nella Prod'homme reports.
As you enter the Exchange Cafe in the late afternoon, owner Nguyen Thi Hoa Mai is probably watering the plants upstairs on the 4th floor terrace, a serene place with few tables among a great number of plants, flowers and herbs.
Here you can eat or have a drink (fresh fruit juice VND39,000, Sai Gon Beer VND30,000, glass of wine VND79,000) and feel at home. On the rooftop, you can read a book and get the sensation it's your own chair and table you are enjoying, along with the scent of your own lemon leaves.
"It's a homely place, a warm place," says Mai, who lived in London and HCM City for a few years before coming back to Ha Noi, the city where she was born and raised. "That is why I do not want to upgrade it too much. Of course, I want to see more and more people coming into the Exchange, but I don't want it to lose that atmosphere. I see restaurants or coffee bar owners who spend a lot of money to buy new furniture but by doing so they lose the ambience of the place."
On the first floor, a massive wooden bar and black and white photos of early 20th century Ha Noi welcome visitors, along with a comfortable "leather" couch and a couple of dark tables. On the second and third floors, the furniture makes The Exchange almost look like a seventies French brasserie (a traditional French restaurant-cum-bar). Then comes the two-storey heavenly terrace, with candles on each table, waiting to be lit.
For Halloween, Mai hosted a group of foreigners who discovered the place in September and came back often after work for a drink or bite to eat. About 30 people attended the event, and they felt like they were at a party at a friend's place. "It was so much fun," says Mai. "Even though I was exhausted the next morning." She had prepared food for the evening around the Halloween theme. The bread was named "blood fingers" as it was shaped like a hand with red fingertips.
Located behind Trang Tien Street, on Trang Tien Lane, The Exchange Cafe offers a range of Asian and Western food. If you don't want the set lunch (around VND100,000), you can choose the pumpkin soup (VND39,000), a delicious dish which actually tastes like vegetables rather than a bowl of cream, cheese and croutons as it can in some restaurants. "The other day, a baby who usually doesn't like vegetable soup ate up all of my pumpkin soup", says Mai. "Now, the mother comes in from time to time to get some soup to take away for her baby."
Another noteworthy dish is the "Special Fresh Spring Rolls" (VND79,000), which are aptly named. This probably comes from the fact that the chef adds eggs, among other secrets, and doesn't forget to place a few coriander leaves in the roll.
Some regular customers have become great fans of the stewed beef udon noodle soup (VND79,000), while others have come to crave the grilled steak which is served with an exquisite sauce made with pepper from Phu Quoc Island. This pepper sauce is so tasty you will want to put it in everything you order (maybe even in your tea or your yogurt with fresh fruit). The menu also features grilled seabass with that same pepper sauce (VND215 000), Australia rib-eye with mustard sauce (VND189,000), grilled salmon with soy sauce (VND225,000), and grilled chicken with honey sauce (VND115,000).
Mai is planning a barbecue party for the rooftop next week with that same group of expatriates.
"As well as being a Christmas party, it will also be a farewell party as some of them are leaving Ha Noi at the end of the year," says Mai.
The Exchange isn't so-called for nothing, says Mai.
"It is a place where you can meet people, talk to people. It is a place of many exchanges." - VNS