Tasty Soviet nostalgia at Cafe CCCP
One of the few places in Ha Noi to enjoy Eastern European food, Cafe CCCP offers comfort food from the days of the Soviet Union. Visitors can look forward to a hearty meal at very reasonable prices. Michael Libucha reports.
The small cafe tucked away on an alley off Ngoc Khanh Street in Ba Dinh District is one of the few places in Ha Noi serving authentic Russian and Ukrainian cuisine.
The small cafe tucked away on an alley off Ngoc Khanh Street in Ba Dinh District is one of the few places in Ha Noi serving authentic Russian and Ukrainian cuisine.
What may place Cafe CCCP ahead of the other handful of Eastern European eateries in the capital city are the reasonable prices and friendly family atmosphere.
The cafe, which has been open for ten years but only started serving food during the past year, is family run.
A Ukrainian woman is the driving force in the kitchen, serving up a wide range of Eastern European dishes from borsh (beetroot soup) to kotlet crumbed pork and chicken cutlets.
The food here is unpretentious but delicious and hearty, a kind of Eastern European version of 'comfort food', it's flavourful, filling and easily eaten.
One of the highlights on the menu is the borsch (priced at VND20,000 for a small bowl and VND35,000 for a large bowl), filled with vegetables including beets, carrots, potatoes and cabbage, and spiced with dill and garlic. Apart from the delicious dollop of sour cream served with the soup, the dish is extremely nourishing and cleansing, packing plenty of vitamins, folates and antioxidants. Cafe CCCP also makes its own sour dough black bread, which goes well with a bowl of borsch.
Another dish that's a must for those who want to explore Eastern European cuisine are perohy - tasty dumplings stuffed with mushrooms and potato and served with sour cream (a small serving costs VD20,000 while a larger dish costs VND400,000).
Meat dishes on the menu include kotlety, cutlets of minced pork or chicken which are covered in breadcrumbs before being fried, while the range of salads includes a shredded red cabbage salad and a version of the famous Russian salad. Thanks to the long history of ties between Russia and Viet Nam, Russian salad is a dish that's common at Vietnamese restaurants across the country. However, Cafe CCCP prides itself on preparing a much more authentic version of the salad, which includes diced potatoes, carrots, peas and pickles in a mayonnaise dressing.
Other highlights on the menu include blinchiki (VND18,000 for a serving), a type of Eastern European crepe stuffed with mince meat or Russian cottage cheese, and the fried cheburek, a half-moon shaped dumpling (also priced at VND18,000).
If you've still got a little room in your stomach for dessert, the cafe can whip up 'Napoleon cake' or chocolate 'brashski', a definite treat for those with a sweet tooth.
Located in an area that's rarely visited by foreign tourists, Cafe CCCP mainly draws Vietnamese diners and expats in the know. The staff only speak Vietnamese or Russian, but the clearly set-out menu which comes with pictures of each dish makes ordering easy for English speakers.
The cafe's interior is cozy and comfortable, looking a bit like a family living room converted into a restaurant. There's a bookshelf crammed with Russian magazines and literature, photos of the motherland stuck up on the walls and a TV and sound system that often plays contemporary Ukrainian and Russian music. There's also a notice board where you can pin your business card, which is handy for those who are always 'networking'.
Cafe CCCP is the antithesis to the swanky, trendy cafes that are mushrooming in and around the Old Quarter. It's unassuming but reliable, where you know the bowl of borsh will always taste just right.
The 'comfort food' and ambience reflects the cafe's name of CCCP (or USSR in English), which harks back to the days before Viet Nam's economic reforms and the fall of the Soviet Union. For the nostalgic type, it was a time when things may have looked a little more run down, but there was none of the flashy display of importance and wealth that is common today.
Whether you're nostalgic for Soviet times or not, Cafe CCCP is worth a visit for the hearty food, extremely reasonable prices and warm family atmosphere. — Read More
