To satisfy a recent craving for American breakfast food Emily and I made our way to Joma, a lovely café that Gerard introduced me to. Ironically it's just around the corner from Lenin park off the 2 bus line. The instant you step inside you begin to question weather or not you are in Vietnam any more. Everything from the style of the menu (blackboards with hand drawn chalk images), to the merchandise for sale, to the comfy chairs and lighting says café from somewhere in California. The menu has classic items: American style coffee (yummmmmmmm mochas), breakfast burritos, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, salads… you name it. Truly different from the practice of Vietnamese restaurants serving only one or two dishes. Probably requires a god deal more storage space and refrigeration capabilities to keep up such a diverse menu; and probably more wasteful because of it.
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| Menu |
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| Pies! Carrot Cake! Pumpkin Pie! OMG! |
The café was populated by a good number of foreigners reading newspapers or typing furiously on their computers. Even the waiters spoke beautiful English, giving the illusion that you weren't in Vietnam. The only hint that we were in Vietnam was that the prices were lower. 64.000đ/$3.20 for my oat covered French-toast with mangoes, 32.000đ/$1.70 for my half of the eggs and bacon breakfast I split with Emily and 40.000đ/$2.00 for my large mocha (136.000đ/ $6.80) is a far cry from the $20+ I would have to pay for the same breakfast in the states. And of course no tip or tax. Of course this one break from American reality was cheerfully accepted by all of the customers.
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| American Style Cafe Merchandise |
On one hand it was nice. I needed a little slice of home after being in Vietnam for 2 months. And I actually managed to get a bunch of reading done while we were there because the atmosphere was so quiet and relaxing. On the other hand it was a little weird. It felt like a fantasy version of America transplanted into Vietnam complete with lower prices. There was nothing -- and I mean nothing -- to remind me that we were in Vietnam. IT really made me think about just how much culture can be created and manipulated. Enough so that with a careful eye to detail you can create a little plot of America in Vietnam. I do think though that I will offer to take some of my HANU buddies there if they are interested. I think it would be cool for them to see a little slice of the world I come from.
One last note: on the way back from Joma we hoped on one of the new 02 busses. The bus was clearly manufactured by an American company as the warning labels were written in English and were exactly the same as the ones on the busses in San Diego. (I kind of wonder what good they do seeing as most people here can’t read English). Course the bus trip was still distinctly Vietnamese. The bus driver almost hit someone on a motorbike and spent the rest of the drive honking louder then usual and stopping for even less time to allow people to leap onto the moving bus. Nice to know I was back in Vietnam.
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