Ha Long

The resto is actually a hybrid of Viet-Thai cuisines. Given that they cater to a local palate, the pho I ordered was sans chewy bits and bean sprouts/basil garnish, but with lemon grass and ginger added. It was a tasty soup, but very different from what I'm used to. I asked the owner/waiter/cocktail-maker why he serves his pho the way he does and his reply was simply, "we tried it with all the different, chewy bits thrown in, but customers didn't like it, so we changed it." -makes sense to me!

What I liked most about Ha Long was that the proprietor (family-run biz), a young man, and his associate, an employee, were so fired up about proper cocktail making. We three got into a discussion about cachaca, and, the next thing I knew, the owner was making us a caipirinha to taste. Cana Rio, I think was the type of cachaca he used, and I can say that it wasn't too bad either. I mentioned that I am a fan of spritzing a wee bit of soda water in my caipirinha just to give it a bit of "umpf". The proprietor said that they'd used to make their caps that way, too. However, as with the pho, some customers didn't like that as they said it "watered" (my new Wort des Tages: verwaessert) down the drink, so they stopped doing it. They then mentioned a "drinks bible" that's all the rage currently in Germany by a man named Charles Schuhman. I intend to do some searching on the internet to find out more this dude.

***Ca phe sua was done properly, and, a nice touch, the glass that the coffee was filtered into was resting in a bowl of very warm water, so that when the coffee had finished filtering, my brown brew was warm to the taste!

***Great atmosphere: tidy space, attractive decor, fresh flowers on the tables.

***Easy to get to: one takes the U4 from Charlottenplatz to (the end stop) Hoelderlinplatz. Ha Long is literally just across the street!

We went to Ha Long last night, after awaiting it's opening for weeks. Inside is beautiful and clean and spacious- and I think they even have a large outside area. It was rainy yesterday, so we didn't venture out. Our server was extremely nice and spoke English. The food was FANTASTIC. Their Spring Rolls tasted fresh and delicious and we both had the Pho, which hit the spot. I would love to see this place succeed here, and we will frequent it often.