Des Amis restaurant

NHA TRANG I believe that the Des Amis restaurant lost its lease last July and closed. Does anyone know if they were able to find a new location and reopen?

There is a restaurant of that name at;
132A Nguyen Thien Thuat, Nha Trang 0000, Vietnam.
Is that it? There is no mention of it being closed on Trip Advisor.

That was a previous location. They lost that lease too.

#2 - Because many properties are being demolished to make way for a new road. Go and have a look what is happening in the lane behind.

Hi,

Are you currently there? With regard to the "lane behind" are you referring to the old NTT address or the Tran Quang Khai street address? I don't really see where a road could possibly go in either location because of the proximity of the military base.

No I am not currently in NT, but a friend is and his house will be demolished along with the shops at the bottom end of Nguyen Thien Thuat on western side. Tran Quang Khai Street will be extended west through the military base and old airport to a new suburb being built there.

Very interesting! If I understand this correctly, it will entail the destruction of the restaurant, tattoo parlor and small shop next to the alleyway on NTT as well as the big mango tree in front of the restaurant. That restaurant (number 132 or 135, I believe) is where Café des Amis was located until they lost the lease three or four years ago. We didn't go to NT this year, but in all the years before the military would use the airfield for training flights. I guess that will be done now, too.

I don't know how many shops and restaurants will be demolished, nor the fate of the corner shop, which sold cheap beer supplies. I see on google earth that Nguyen Thien Thuat is also being extended south, with accompanying demolitions. The military airport has shifted operations and no longer uses the airstrip in town. As I reported above, the old airport is being developed as a new suburb, which you can also see on google earth.

Thanks for the updates. I looked at Google Earth (Feb 14, 18) and indeed the NTT extension is quite visible. However I do not see the development at the airport. In fact there are still about a dozen airplanes parked there. We have always stayed in that part of town and over the years (since 2002 for us) the changes have been dramatic. Every year the pace of change seems to increase. As I said we didn't go this past winter, but we are booked to return in October. Looks like we'll have to spend the first few days just getting reacquainted with the place.

As to my original question, does your friend who is still there have any idea if Café des Amis has relocated? It was our favorite place, and we ate there almost every night. If, indeed they are gone, we will sorely miss them.

Thanks again,

Lynn Patterson

I have sent an email to ask about possible whereabouts of Cafe des Amis and will let you know the reply. The planes are not parked on the old runway, which is being developed as a divided road. VN air force operations have moved to Cam Ranh airport.

Correct. The planes are over to the side, but they will eventually need an exit runway. I suppose they can leave before the road is open. We used to enjoy watching the air force pilots practicing a maneuver where they would make an upward loop ending in a 180 degree change of direction.

Thanks for contacting your friend. We look forward to a positive response.

Lynn

My friend reports: "As far as I know it has shut for good, certainly in our area." But he will check other areas for you.

Your friend is very kind to do the legwork. The family who owned Des Amis lives in the section of Nha Trang that is north of the bridge so they could be most anywhere. The husband, Don, had a stroke in 2016, just before we left. Although he had stopped working about a year before that, it may have taken the drive to reopen out of the rest of the family. The three sons that still live in Nha Trang would work sporadically, but the mother was the prime mover. Many moving parts to this.

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