L’uisine is venue for coffee, shopping and art
By Kieu Giang in HCMC
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| A girl walks on a small corridor leading to L’uisine Cafe which is located on the first floor of an old condo in District 1 - Photo: Kieu Giang |
Nestled on the first floor of an old-style condo on the busy Dong Khoi Street, the elegant L’uisine Cafe is a popular venue for expats and shopaholics in town.
It is difficult to reach L’uisine as you have to walk or push your motorbike into a small alley off Dong Khoi Street where galleries and handicraft shops are located as engines are not allowed to be switched on in the arty lane. You then follow a banner ‘L’uisine on the right’ to get to an old stair where numerous red lanterns hung in the air. It is fascinating if you come at night as all the red lanterns will be sparkling like in one of the world’s many China Towns or in the city’s Cho Lon or a scene from a Chinese movie.
The French-style boutique cafe is elegant with themed colors of black, light yellow and grey and is divided into three areas for coffee, shopping and an art gallery. People can find some cool stuff there ranging from household decorations to accessories and men’s/women’s clothes. Furthermore, guests can spend time admiring some installation art works like a big mushroom in red or an old-style motorbike or simply enjoy the street view of Dong Khoi through a bay window.
The cafe serves a number of drinks like coffee, smoothies, tea and fruit juices priced from VND40,000. Other Western-style food and homemade cakes just have to be sampled. Those with a sweet tooth can’t resist the appeal of ten delicious and beautiful kinds of cupcakes from a daily menu at L’uisine.
There’s a parking lot downstairs which charges you VND10,000 per motorbike so it is recommended to park in front of the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers near the corner of Dong Khoi and Dong Du streets and the best time to come to L’uisine is nightime before 9 p.m.
L’uisine cafe is located on level 1 of the condo numbered 151 Dong Khoi Street, District 1.