36/365: Muse cafe

At first, sorry for my laziness. For nearly 2 months, I have not done anything on this blog. There were some either good things and bad things happened but everything seem to be okie now. I will try to back to the old life rhythm which I used to have.

I have known about Muse for a long time before the visit. One simple reason is the cafe locates on the way I go back home from work (not the way I go to work from home, they are different) and the name reminded me of the famous rock band: the Muse (and I was wrong about it)

I went to Muse on a horribly hot summer day. It was about 40 outside and it seemed like people prefered stay at home in stead of going out. There were only 2 customers before we came. The too bright sunshine also made the work of taking photos harder as the light reflected on the wall and it destroyed the necessary low light for a cafe shop and even worse, I could not work it out. So blame it on me, not the cafe, if you see the photo not very nice.

Muse has been opened for just more than 2 months by 4 young guys. The name Muse, according to the one I met that day, means Music. They chose this name cause they want to refer to the kind of music they would like to play in the cafe. However, depend on what kind of customers are in the cafe, the cafe-runner will play the most suitable kind of music (which may includes Pop, R&B and maybe Teen music). Sound funny!

There is a contrary between furniture and the themes of the wall. The furniture is presented in deep color, just simple black low table and red cushions but the wall paintings are naughty, lightly and kind of lovely. It seems like the owners wanted to mix between the depth of oriental decoration with the rebel of western graffiti. I am not sure how others feel but to me, it is not very alright (even I like the wall painting very much).

Located on Kim Ma st., the cafe has an advantage as it is very close to some schools like Hanoi-Amsterdam, Giang Vo, and some International schools and around the cafe, there are many restaurants so Muse might me a good choice for not only school kids but young people to relax after dining.

Friendly and Ambitious are about the 4 young owners. They are very active on their facebook to connect Muse with its customers and try to get involve the customers in to activities of the shop. For example; They gave their customers to choose the happy hour. Recently, they were success in linking with some book publishers which will provide books to Muse to let the customer borrow or buy from Muse with discounted price. Or by letting people know about using new cafe which they brought from Nha Trang and Hue to replace the old one, Muse show that they care to their customers and also bring the customers to the shop to try the new cafe. Clever marketing, dudes!!!

Good one! Good one! There are still some minor issues but I believe the owners know how to fix them and better their service to be more customer-oriented. Well! To be recognized and be treated nicely, that what they know you want to have when you walk into the shop.

Add: 289 Kim Mã (104 A5 Giảng Võ) - Ba Đình - Hà Nội

35/365: Potomac cafe

The cafe is... so so. The best part of it is the location. It is actually a on-a-boat cafe on West Lake. The most impression about Potomac to me was bridge between the pier and the land, which is so lovely with the brown of wood, the green of water-fern, the black of steel frame and the yellow from lamps.

The best time to be here, I think, is in the late afternoon of a cool day. You will have a great view to West Lake while enjoy the wind blowing your hair (if your hair is long enough).

Inside the boat is dining area, so so, not much to say:

But the view from beside the boat is quite interesting, you can catch a duck-cycling-boat from here if you want a trip around the lake with your friends or your partner.

3/5! That is the best mark I could give to the cafe. The location is worth all the mark. But it is a good option if you want to find somewhere which is different to the typical of small, tidy shop like most of the cafe in Hanoi.

Add: No. 4 Thụy Khê st.

34/365: iLu cafe

Sometime, I find hard to express everything by word. I am not very good at literature even I was once sent to attend a Literature Contest for Excellent Student when I was in high school (and I fail at the 1st Round U__U). So sometimes, you might see my entry with very few words. Sorry about that! U__U

ILu was original the one on Phó Đức Chính st. which was aimed to stylish young customers or businessmen. However, due to the issue of hiring the location, the owner had to move the cafe to Kim Mã st. but it is not the thing i want to mention here. Which surprises me was the owner decided to keep the name but change the type of customer, they are now office personnel and teenage o__O

Actually, at the start, the owner aimed o teenage, which could be seen from the way he decorated the shop, naughty and lovely. Reason? The cafe is located on an area which has many schools around, e.g: Ams, Giang Vo, Cat Linh, and some International Schools. But then, the shop attached to officers who are working around. Well, good start and a good coincident luck.

The shop has 3 floor and in 3 different decoration way:

1st floor:

2nd floor:

  
Typical busy officer:

And what he was doing: Phỏm online :D

The different decoration is the issue I concern about the cafe, the 1st floor seems to be very alright, as an place for quick lunch but the 2nd floor confuses me because of its mixing style and the 3rd floor, which might interesting you is in totally difference to the 2 others. Customers might be confused when thinking of iLu with the question like "is it fit me?". Maybe, just maybe, the objective customers of iLu, as teenage, does not think like I do. They might love that differentiated way.

Oh! I mentioned the 3rd floor to you without any photos, I think I will keep it as something for you to discover when you choose the cafe to visit for a quick lunch or on a Saturday cool night :)

The cafe serves hamburger and other western food with very low price. I might re-visit it someday to try. Worth to try!

Add: 178 Kim Mã, Ba Đình, Hà Nội