Vietnam additions forum

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my email,

I am the owner of Lanterns Vietnamese Restaurant & Cooking Classes and ask that you please come and inspect our place so it can be listed on your website, please.

We are located:

Lanterns Vietnamese Restaurant & Cooking Classes
72 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street
Nha Trang , VIETNAM
Ph: (058) 2471 674
Website: www.lanternsvietnam.com
Email: robertcostabile@optusnet.com.au

We have been operating for about 15 months and recently commenced half day cooking classes for visitors to Nha Trang at a cost of $14 USD per person. It is a great experience of travelling to the local market, buying food and then preparing 3 dishes as chosen by the guests. We also provide a small recipe book at the completion of the tour, as a memento and keepsake.

We are also keen to differentiate ourselves from all the other dining places in Nha Trang and give the customer a unique Vietnamese experience.

One area is, we are strongly supporting 2 local orphanages. I spent 2 months travelling through Nha Trang & Vietnam & spent a lot of my time with the children at orphanages. As a result, I am trying to give back to these kids, by teaching them life skills and how the real world operates, outside of the usual visits and photo opportunity.

That’s where the idea from lanterns came. We invite kids and their careers to each at least one day per month, but any time they wish to come. We encourage the schools/orphanages to allow the older kids to gain work experience at our place and meet the people who visit Vietnam first hand, in a friendly helpful environment.

One thing I am strongly committed to, is making sure the kids are not exploited in any way and nothing is ever done without discussing it & getting approval from the carers involved.

I am looking for your assistance in helping raise awareness for the kids and our restaurant, so that visitors to Vietnam & especially Nha Trang, can help in their small way, if they feel the need to.

Our restaurant is a modest one, to begin with, but I am hoping as we build, we can offer even greater financial support to the kids at the 2 orphanages and hopefully make it our small way of helping those less fortunate than myself.

I would love to find out if there is anything we can do to include something about us in the next Vietnam or Nha Trang update you do on your website and you are welcome to come eat at our place and please try our cooking class, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by what we offer!!

Thanks & Kind Regards

Robert Costabile

Edit by Somtam2000 3 April 2010: Lanterns has just completed renovations and has increased the price of their cooking class to $18 per person.