Photos: Vo Xuan Huy

In one of his trip chronicles, the writer Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong wrote about people who indulge in pleasures. People from Hue are famous for being hard-working, yet they have a penchant for noble pleasures. Their pleasures are neither overspending money nor parties all day and all night long, but the very cultivated pleasures in a remarkable manner. This manner is clearly manifested in the ambiance of Hue’s restaurants.

The outstanding feature of the architecture of Hue’s restaurants nowadays is Ruong style column house. Inspired by the typical characteristics of older architecture, its effect is really unexpected. For the people from Hue, the Ruong style architecture brings back familiar memories of their old houses. Guests from afar come to admire the artistic business style of Hue people. It is an occasion to contemplate the beauty of Ruong style column house, which they used to know from books.

Lines of columns which are usually considered blocking and occupying a large area in a Ruong style column house now become all subtle separated points. You can see me sitting in the restaurant and I can see you, but this seeing doesn’t bother anyone. The lines of columns make the meeting become intermittent. Is this the living style of Hue people, gentle, graceful and discreet?

The ambiance of Hue’s restaurants is also the ambiance of Hue garden houses. Flowers and leaves, ornamental plants and decorative fake mountains are a must. Stepping into Hue restaurants, we feel like the nature is rushing to us. There is no separation between houses and gardens. Green trees are at your arms’ reach. It is the rushed noisy life outside, but once you step through the door, you are embraced by tranquility.

Ban Khoa doors

For people from Hue, the restaurants’ disposition makes you feel like stepping into your home: the rock garden, the old apricot tree in the yard in front of the house’s threshold, the three-step staircases, the “ban khoa” door,  all surrounded by flowers and leaves. The scenery here is an arrangement, but the fine arts taste of Hue people has made it natural. The nature-respecting life style of Hue people, which has existed since time immemorial, is clearly expressed in the architecture of Hue’s restaurants.

Hue, the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam, is a very special region. This is expressed by the mixing of imperial life and common folk life. Hundreds of palaces of princes and princesses were constructed alternately with common people’s houses. Hence, the sophisticated and fastidious life style of the aristocracy affected greatly the common people’s daily life. From preparing tea to the bearing, the gait and the respectful talk, everything is gentle and graceful… a deliberate manner and attitude. Stepping into a Hue restaurant, guests look to relax, so why should we hurry. Guests from afar may not be able to get used to it at first, but it could be sometimes what it takes to make them remember Hue longer.

Coming to Hue restaurants, you could contemplate not only the nature, the flowers and leaves, but you have also the occasion to come to the owner’s special collections of pottery. One of the pleasures of Hue people is collecting. Pottery is a popular subject. If you are passionate for antiques and pottery, take a stroll around the restaurant. That is to say that Hue people have their own way of pleasure. It is a life style that they want to share with you, because art doesn’t need to be introduced.

Constructing restaurants may be a business, but with Hue people, beside the profits, the important thing that many owners care to share their hobbies or just their interest in arts with a lot of people. Therefore, with this kind of services, they accept a small profit to have in exchange their own space of relaxation. In such spaces, they could find their close friends.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Tuan, the owner of “Ancient Vi Da” and “Nam Giao nostalgia” said: “The funds that I invested into these two restaurants could bring me a greater profit if it had been invested into other businesses such as shoes. But I chose to construct these ancient style restaurants because of my passion for Ruong style column houses since I was a kid. Here I find a peaceful place of my own, and I could do the decoration myself, expose my favorite pottery”.

Hence, each Hue restaurant is associated with distinguishable taste of art. Regular guests become addicted to the restaurants, or to their ambiances. Many travelers who stay in Hue for just a few days quickly become familiar with the restaurants and considered themselves regular guests. The impression that the ambiance of Hue restaurants gives us is a harmonious combination of Ruong houses’ architecture mixed with nature.

The respect for nature is a special feature creating the style of Hue restaurants. Whether it’s a small or a big restaurant, a green tree is a must-have element in each one. People from Hue are inherently used to seeing green and blue colors. The clear blue flow of the Perfume river, the green of trees and leaves in the city, the green in the houses’ yards, the green out of windows, the green on tables, the green in the corner of houses. Hue people eyes are not used to seeing things lack of green and blue colors. The green color of Hue restaurants is in fact the same green which has become familiar with Hue people’s eyes. That’s why Hue people see poems and flowers everywhere. In such a space, lines of poetry give wings to people’s souls.

There are still many things in Hue culture hidden behind cups of tea and coffee in each Hue restaurant. It could be the art of preparing tea, the art of communication in the Hue way or the art of arranging the space. Hue restaurants are thus a part of Hue life from its origin to the present days.