Bon vivants in the nation's capital were given a new destination for luxuriant dining when La Terrasse du Metropole Café opened yesterday in the Sofitel Metropole Hotel in Hanoi.

Graham Greene party: The Parisian-style sidewalk café gives guests chances to enjoy the colourful scene of traffic and pedestrians.

Stretching around the corner of Ngo Quyen Street and facing Con Coc (Toad) Park, the café was designed to replicate the look and feel of a typical Parisian sidewalk cafe, providing a pleasant oasis in the capital's historic Hoan Kiem District.

Sofitel Metropole Hanoi general manager Gilles Cretallaz said the cafe preserves the hotel's old word charm while providing a breath of fresh air for the 'Grande Dame de Hanoi'.

He said La Terrasse du Metropole was a cosy place, with seating for 40 guests on cushioned cast iron chairs and matching tables. It conveys the charm and romance of Hanoi's French Quarter, and is a great place to watch the world go by, he said.

The all day menu features French cuisine prepared by notable French chef Didier Corlou, who has been with the hotel for more than 10 years. Those seeking lighter refreshment can order afternoon tea or cocktails and fine cigars.

The cafe traces its origins to 1911, when it was known as the Metropole Cafe, a rendezvous for Hanoi's high society who gathered each evening to discuss news from the 'outside world.' By the 1920s, the hotel and its famous cafe became affectionately known as 'a little Paris of the tropics'.

The hotel itself, which was built in 1901 in the French colonial style, has welcomed many notable guests, including the Presidents of the US, France, and Switzerland, and numerous senior diplomats.

Stars of stage and screen, including Charlie Chaplin, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Oliver Stone, Mike Jagger, and Sir Roger Moore, have also stayed at the hotel, as has writer Graham Greene.

(Source: Viet Nam News)