Wheel House - world of miniature cars
By My Tran in HCMC
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| Nguyen Thanh Thu, owner of the Wheel House Cafe, sits on an imitation retro olkswagen Beetle at the cafe - Photo: My Tran |
If you are enthusiasts of model cars and motorbikes, then the Wheel House Cafe in District 1 is the place for you to go and admire thousands of models.
Nguyen Thanh Thu decided to open the cafe to share her passion and her collection from the last six years with models priced from VND400,000 to VND5 million.
“To me, small-modeled cars are like dreams and I am very happy when people have the same dream as me,” said Thu.
The cafe’s highlight is chairs which are made from real wheels and tires. “I buy old wheels, and then I wash them, polish them and assemble them into a chair which makes guests comfortable like they are sitting on sofas,” Thu said.
Actually, Thu puts a pillow on a couple of wheels or a tire which are used as the chair leg then another pillow leans on another wheel for the back of a chair. Tires even serve as some tables with a cut piece of glass on top creating a flat surface. As wheels are made of engineering polymer material; they are very smooth and elastic, making guests feel relaxed.
There is a remarkable twin chair made from a Volkswagen Beetle.
The red, blue and yellow lights are also another attraction of the cafe as they seem to lure the eyes of guests.
On the walls are paintings of vintage and luxury cars, some of which have immense street art-like murals depicting roads, signs and funky cars in vibrant colors such as a red convertible, yellow Cadillac or blue Beetle. Scattered around the cafe are gas stations.
The highlight, though, is the huge collection of model vehicles in diverse sizes, shapes, models and colors. There are also numerous car magazines so you should take a look to find out your own taste and which one will be yours in the future.
According to Thu, every week groups of young enthusiasts and collectors hold offline meetings to exchange their passion, discuss new lines of cars as well as show off their collections.
Apart from the main room, the cafe also has an upstairs area which is suitable for small groups and an open-aired terrace for couples at night.
The cafe is located on the first floor at 116 Suong Nguyet Anh Street, HCMC’s District 1. If you come there and see the Nam Giao Restaurant on the ground floor, don’t panic and just ascend a secretive staircase next to the kitchen, you will then see a painted sign pointing to the well-concealed cafe.
The cafe serves many kinds of drinks from smoothies, fruit juices, coffee, tea and ice-cream priced from VND30,000.