Served hot: Traditional Vietnamese soup with macaroni and pork. - Photos by Sunny Rose

Đà Lạt in winter is too cool for people like myself who live in HCM City, while it is ideal for foreign tourists escaping freezing weather in their home countries.

After wandering about town one day, I visited a café to warm up.

Nestled on a charming corner of a hill at Đà Lạt’s Ba Tháng Hai and Thủ Khoa Huân streets, and surrounded by old sakura trees, An Café has a poetic view.

It offers a feeling of peaceful nature as well as an interesting décor with a warm, wooden interior.

The music playing is sometimes from a piano or from birds singing in the breeze.

You can choose to sit in any corner of the café: in the swinging chair outside in the warm morning sunshine or in green shadows full of plants.  Each part has an interesting detail.

As soon as I settled down, a big bowl of traditional aromatic Vietnamese soup with macaroni and pork (VNĐ39,000) was placed on my table. I enjoyed it greatly.

Because of my hunger and my feeling of being cold, I felt as if I had never enjoyed such delicious food.

The soup with pieces of small pork ribs, with a subtle fragrance of spices, all seemed to melt quickly in my mouth.

The cold weather makes any food far more delicious when our body needs energy.

However, the dish did not supply enough calories for me so I ordered toasted bread with garlic (VNĐ29,000), which was crispy with a buttery flavour.

The plants on the table were not only for looks, but also for use at the table. I took some leaves of rosemary and added it to my dish.

I recognised that the restaurant had arranged organic vegetables and homegrown herbs around the place instead of flowers.

If you like, you can grow a plant there and put it on a shelf. Your plant with your name will be taken care of, with an image posted on Facebook so that you can follow its growth.

For dessert, I had a special Đà Lạt coffee (VNĐ39,000), appropriate as the city is known for its coffee.

“Here you can find pure and cold pressed juices good for your health and beauty. The juices contain no added sugar, ice or water,” said Võ Hoàng Quang, 31, the owner of An Café.

“All foods are made from fresh organic ingredients and local favorites. We use no monosodium glutamate and cook with little salt,” she added.

The meals are made with fresh farm produce, with a minimum of processed ingredients. They use the finest tropical vegetables, fruits and herbs that they grow themselves or obtain locally.

A customer at the restaurant, Frederic Durand, said: “An Café is a gorgeous place in Đà Lạt. I can say that it has a good concept and that the place is wonderful with the wood and plants. The people who work here are young and friendly and the espresso and creme brulée are very good. I will go back to sample other dishes.” VNS

Fresh herbs: Toasted bread with garlic.

Warm atmosphere: Inside An Cafe.

Homegrown: A view of An Cafe with an organic garden in front.