Owned by Dane Klaus Krogh Christensen, the Storm P Bar & Restaurant, named after famous Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen, is the only Danish restaurant in Vietnam. It is a small cosy place at the city center of Ho Chi Minh City welcoming Scandinavian and also other expatriates from the nearby business district not too far from the most visited local tourist attractions.
“They call it the Mayor’s Office and not only for Danes, but also for Scandinavians in Ho Chi Minh. They come here to meet and greet friends and arrange activities together. Sometimes they don’t know what to do so they just come to enjoy the companionship of friends here at Storm P,” Krogh says with laugh.
There are 400 Scandinavian citizens in Ho Chi Minh of which about 150 are Danes. He welcomes about 20-25 customers approximately every day of whom 70% are Scandinavian and the others mainly Australian or American.
Morten, a Dane, is a regular customer at Storm P Bar & Restaurant and visits two or three times a week. He says that Storm P is a place where Scandinavian expatriates in Ho Chi Minh always come to chat, drink and enjoy food with friends. Sometimes they play cards or go play golf together.
Klaus the owner explains: “We organize monthly golf tournaments under the name of the Scandinavian Golf Club. There are more than 40 people who regularly join the tournaments. Storm P becomes the nineteenth hole after people finish playing golf and they come here to drink and chat about golf. Thus Storm P is like a clubhouse for golfing Scandinavians in this city,” he laughs.
“Sometimes on Saturday when some of my friends have brought Danish bread from Singapore, we will call our buddies to enjoy brunch together at my restaurant,” Krogh continues.
There are more than 50 dishes on the menu, both international and Danish cuisine and just reading the menu out loud is enough to rouse your appetite with the prospect of home-cooked food at hand.
“I order herring from a Danish company in Ho Chi Minh where I can also buy lots of Danish products such as bread, flavourings and butter. The one thing that I import from Denmark is sausage and specially recommended here are the Fried Pork and Red Hotdogs,” Krogh says.
“Every time I am here, I always order my favorite Red Hotdog, together with cold beer. Very nice,” Morten grins.
There are three Vietnamese chefs at Storm P, all of whom are women.
“I taught them how to cook because I was a cook in Germany for 6 months about 25 years ago, so they can learn from me how to make sauces and cook ordinary Danish and other Western dishes,” Krogh explains.
“We also have many special drinks such as typical Danish Gammel Dansk made from 29 different herbs, Sort Svin, and Mekhong River.”
“Stop by and you too will soon at home – right here in Ho Chi Minh!”
