HANOI – An ancient-style coffee shop in Nam Tu Liem district, selling drink combos and photography outfits, and free hair styling, attracting many customers to check in, especially on weekends.
Although it has only been built for a year and has been in operation for about 6 months, Waha coffee shop on Nguyen Van Giap Street, Nam Tu Liem District, attracts a stable number of customers thanks to its ancient style that is rarely found elsewhere.
Mr. Ha Ngoc Hieu, 40 years old, the shop’s owner, said the shop does not have Christmas decorations to keep the concept fixed. Instead, he invested in early Tet decorations as a place to have fun and take photos for customers. Since the end of December, the number of customers coming to the restaurant has increased unexpectedly thanks to photos and articles shared on social networking sites.
The shop has an area of about 300 m2, consists of two floors, with indoor and outdoor space. The shop’s ancient style is created from the main material of wood and rows of lanterns, stairs, and calligraphy written by the shop owner himself.
To match the Tet atmosphere, the shop added items with the main red color to decorate the front door of the shop, in the garden, and tea tables placed in the house.
The space most loved by many customers is the courtyard on the first floor, behind the shop door, in front of the ordering counter. There are pots of chrysanthemums with buds blooming and persimmon trees laden with fruit.
In particular, with the smoke generator placed on the ground, wisps of white smoke flow out, about one meter high, hovering under the feet, making the space feel like a fairyland. Many people are willing to wait to get a photo here.
The wooden staircase leading to the roof in the front yard resembles old inns in ancient Chinese martial arts films. Standing and taking photos here, visitors can see persimmon trees laden with fruit and rows of red lanterns.
According to Mr. Hieu, the restaurant’s attraction lies in the combos that serve customers checking in. The best seller is the combo of a buffet drink and an outfit priced at 99,000 VND, taken in 45 minutes.
The shop has many types of costumes for customers to choose from such as ao dai, camisole, Hanbok, kimono, Mongolian costumes, Thai costumes.
Customers can book an additional photographer or makeup artist for 320,000 VND. Book both photographer and makeup for 499,000 VND.
When choosing any combo, customers can have their hair done and use accessories such as paper umbrellas, rose branches, and artificial flowers for free.
The shop has about 30 employees, divided into customer support stages such as ordering food, making drinks, advising on costume selection, hairdressing, and makeup. During peak hours, many customers still have to wait because of the large number of people.
The shop has many check-in corners with diverse layouts that change every day. The shop continues to decorate to create more photography corners to attract new customers, Mr. Hieu said.
The yard behind the ordering counter has a check-in corner that recreates the space of Quang Phu Cau incense village, loved by many young people.
Thao and Linh Anh, students at a university in Hanoi, brought a camera to the selfie shop on the afternoon of January 20. They chose the 99,000 VND combo and chose hanbok because they love Korean culture.
The restaurant space is filled with Tet atmosphere and is as crowded as familiar Tet photo spots such as Hoan Kiem Lake and Hang Ma Street, Thao commented. The shop is located in the inner city of Hanoi so it is convenient to move, but due to the crowd, the waiting time to change clothes and get your hair done is quite long, Linh Anh added.
The second floor area also has some shooting angles but fewer than the first floor, mainly serving customers to sit in coffee and rest after taking photos.
The shop is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. On weekdays, the time period from 12:00 to 16:00 is peak hour. On weekends, the restaurant is always crowded.
Each customer coming to take photos takes at least two hours to order, choose outfits, get their hair done, take photos, drink coffee and rest. The shop’s space is limited, sometimes it has to stop accepting customers. Therefore, at the busiest time on weekends, the restaurant welcomes about 300 customers, Mr. Hieu said.
To avoid having to wait, customers can come to the restaurant at a quiet time, around 8am – 10pm or early afternoon. In the evening, the restaurant space shimmers with light from rows of lanterns, which can also bring beautiful photos.
($1~24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)