Re: Once upon a time in a Hanoi café

I recently read Connla Stoke’s “Once upon a time in a Hanoi café” and thoroughly enjoyed it. It transported me to a different time (and a different pace). I’ve been walking more in Toronto recently, especially drawn to the strip-mall lands in the East end. On Friday, I ended up at Pho Metro at Warden and Lawrence where they made me a nice dark coffee with condensed milk. The next day I read Connla’s piece about Hanoi cafes. It got me thinking about my relationship with coffee, Vietnamese coffee, and the city of Toronto. I first started drinking coffee back in 2010 when I was Felix. Somewhat like the Procrastinator in Connla’s story, I did it to while away my time. I had “figured out” my main project and it wasn’t mentally stimulating anymore. There was no “next thing” lined up for me, so… may as well start sitting around in cafes. The big eye-opener cafe, the Platonic ideal for me, was a place called “The Communal Mule”. The coffee was tasty. The space was sparsely furnished with…