ISSUE 118

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MARCH 2015

THE REAL MIRIAM YEUNGHong Kong's golden girl on education, playing headmistress and motherhood

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TRAVEL

A TALE OF TWO CITIES PART 1: HANOI

Hanoi, Vietnam’s northerly capital, retains a quiet, elegant grace with wide tree lined boulevards, yellow washed colonial buildings, traditional shop crammed

old quarter and calm city-lung lake areas.  

ACCOMMODATIONFollow the famous to the Metropole Hotel, (www.sofitel-legend.com) which opened in 1901, where Charlie Chaplin honeymooned, Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene wrote and everyone from Putin to Brad and Angelina laid their heads. The old wing, in original dark wood decor with its celebrity name suites, contrasts with the newer Opera Wing’s neo-classical rooms, some with a terrace. Gauzy drapes divide off the free-standing tub and rainhead shower bathrooms. Hotel services include cookery classes, spa, Path of History tours, BMW airport limos and a shoeshine ambassador. 

Nearby, the Hotel de l‘Opera (www.hoteldelopera.com) reflects its location near the 1901 Opera House with theatrical colour splashes in bed throws and art. Rooms feature unusually high beds with specially designed mattresses facing double sided TV’s for round-the-room viewing. There are terraces for swimming or cigar smoking and a new spa. An eight storey atrium houses Satine for Vietnamese cuisine while Mediterranean dishes are served in Cafe Lautrec.  

Hanoi means ‘within rivers’ but the city relaxes round its two lakes. A resort feel envelops the Westlake Intercontinental (www.intercontinental.com/hanoi), built out

into the lake with water lapping round room terraces. Room decor showcases local crafts; lanterns become beside lamps.

   WINING & DININGCrafts, as well as food traditions, are reflected in the buffet decor at the Metropole’s Spice Garden, a perfect lunch spot with a garden terrace and a vast buffet choice of food from all parts of the country giving a sophistication to street food. Jackie Chan has dined at The Press Club (www.hanoi-pressclub.com) where western and local dishes are served in a colonial styled series of rooms divided by oriental wooden screens. The rooftop terrace has opera house views, the library relaxes with armchairs and low tables and most evenings there is live musical entertainment.

Watching the world bike by, the Metropole’s Terrasse recreates a chic Parisian pavement cafe. At the end of the day, the Intercontinental’s Sunset Bar set out in the lake gives uninterrupted sunset views. Angelina’s at the Metropole (named for Jolie after her visit) has a resident DJ.

SIGHTSEEINGHang Gai Street is the place for specialist shops and galleries: Tan My (www.tanmyembroidery.com.vn) sells superlative

silk clothing and embroidery from bed linen to seductive robes. Upstairs is a design cafe/art gallery with music. More art can be found across the street at Thang Long Gallery (www.thanglongartgallery.com) showing Vu Thu Hien’s lacquer on wood works and Ngo Van Sac’s woodcuts. Be a colourful bag lady like Hillary Clinton, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung with an Ipa-Nima design by Hong Kong lawyer Christina Yu. Her Hanoi shop is at 5 Nha Tho Street and she also sells through Tan My and has two stores in Saigon. For silk shawls, scarves, robes, carvings and lacquerware, the Temple of Literature’s museum shop is a calm, fixed price spot.

For some R-and-R en route to Saigon, the Intercontinental Danang Resort (www.danang.intercontinental.com) provides cliffside seclusion, stunning black and white designer rooms and both incoming and outgoing plush exclusive airport lounges to smooth the way. Accommodation villas with large terraces are layered above the private beach reached by thatched cable car and buggy transport. Michelin starred chef Michel Roux’s menus are served at La Maison 1888 while Citron, the Vietnamese/Mediterranean restaurant has circular private dining tables spearing out a hundred metres over the bay. 

by Carol Wright

Luxuriate in one of Hotel de l'Opera's plush bedrooms

Hotel de l'Opera terrace with the opera house in background

Hotel Metropole's Parisian style cafe, Terrasse

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STAYINGVilla Song Hotel (www.villasong.com) in a colonial style mansion, opened early in 2014 with detergent white interiors hung with contemporary Vietnamese art. Rooms with big rain showers have optional ceiling fans. On one side is a secluded garden pool, on the river side, Bistro Song Vie provides all day dining at palm shaded tables along the water line serving eggs benedict breakfasts to Mekong dory fish and chips, pizzas, risottos and Asian dishes. Villa Song has its own speed boat for traffic free trips to the city centre. 

Under renovation from March-June 2015, the Park Hyatt (www. parkhyattsaigon.com) will retain its French colonial feel with hardwood and tall windows, but add more dramatic Indochine elements including crystal chandeliers, silver leaf white panelled walls and crafted furniture. Square One serves Vietnamese seafood and Western grills with five show kitchens and a wine  library with 1,500 labels. The Sofitel Saigon Plaza (www.sofitel.com) renovated in 2012, has neutral shaded rooms accented by vibrant silk touches, wall mirrors, hardwood furniture, marble floored bathrooms and floor to ceiling windows. The best views are from the rooftop pool and its bar for sunset drinks. L’Olivier restaurant serving Mediterranean food regularly hosts Michelin star guest chefs.

GRAZINGCool off by taking a boat to romantic candlelit riverside The Deck (www.thedecksaigon.com) for a blend of western and local culinary ideas from tuna wrapped spring rolls to

Australian grilled meats. The Temple Club (www.templeclub.com.vn) evokes the 1930’s with a clubby library lounge area, dark wood, period paintings and red lanterns over the bar. Try snails stuffed with lemon grass or steamed drunken prawns in coconut milk. Cuc Gach Quan (www.cucgachquan.com.vn/en) uses rustic, but elegant rooms of a former architect’s office linked by serene tiny plant filled patios and carp pools. Authentic local dishes include caramelised clay pot pork, sea bass with passion fruit sauce and flavoursome tofu dishes. 

An art deco atmosphere comes with cocktails at the Sofitel Plaza’s Boudoir Lounge with leather sofas, devoré velvet cushions, patterned rugs and antiques. A glass of wine at The Refinery (www.therefinerysaigon.com) has the underlying frisson of a former opium refinery setting. Both food and drinks local style are swiftly accessed on a Back of Vespa all-inclusive food and drink tour (www.vietnamvespaadventures.com) starting at Cafe Zoom and being driven to small restaurants and clubs.

Recreate those flavours with a morning’s lesson at the sunny, spacious rooftop Vietnam Cookery Center (www.vietnamese-cooking-classes-saigon.com) by learning to make dishes like sour soup, beef fillet with tamarind sauce and caramelised catfish in a clay pot. Find the source of ingredients on a Les Rives (www.lesrivesexperience.com) speed boat trip down the river and into the Mekong delta visiting markets, crocodile farms, flying fox sanctuaries and mangrove jungles.

SHOPPINGDesigner label stores from Dior to Versace edge Dong Khoi, the best shopping street. Christian Louboutin is tucked among local high-end shops like Khaisilk (www.khaisilkcorp.com) for the softest rainbow swathes of silk. A French take on traditional Vietnamese dressmaking produces elegant summery clothes at Handmade for Song (www.valeriegregorimckenzie.com) on Pasteur Street. Mai Handicrafts (www.maihandicrafts.com) at 298 Nhuyen Trong Tuyen, a lifestyle store helping disadvantaged people, sells lamps, cushions, ornaments plus coasters and boxes made from discarded lottery tickets. 

WHAT ELSEFocusing on the art scene, Sophie’s Art Tour (www.sophiesarttour.com) guided by  Sophie Hughes, visits private art galleries and the Fine Arts Museum filled with Vietnamese art from elaborate lacquer works to simple pot black wartime sketches. Among Sophie’s recommendations for art enthusiast visits are The Observatory (www.theobservatory-hcmc.com) for art and music events with cafe, restaurant and bar and Galerie Quynh on Dong Khoi Street (www.galeriequynh.org) for contemporary art.

VISITING VIETNAM: Cathay Pacific fly to Danang and Saigon and Dragonair to Hanoi. Inside Vietnam (www.insidevietnam.com) provide tailor-made individual tours.  Lonely Planet’s 2014 revised Vietnam guide (www.lonelyplanet.com) is an invaluable companion.

A TALE OF TWO CITIESPART 2: SAIGON

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is a pulsating, sprawling southern metropolis with high-rises spearing up from its river banks, flourishing arts and culinary life plus relaxing riverside

areas and Mekong delta trips. Best overview is from the Sky bar of the AB Tower.

by Michael Geare

Boudoir Lounge at Sofitel Plaza

Arriving by boat at The Deck restaurant L'Olivier restaurant at the Sofitel Plaza