A newly opened Japanese-inspired café cum bar in Phu Nhuan District provides customers a crop to cup coffee experience.

The café, open for a month now, provides the feel of an old Japanese town. The bar area features many lanterns and has drawings of Maneki Neko, a cat figurine believed to bring good luck in Japan.

The venue has a large terrace that is also decorated with different lanterns, including Koinobori or carp-shaped windsocks that are traditionally flown to celebrate Japan's Children Day holiday in May.

The three-storied café with an area of more than 250 square meters is full of symbolic images of the land of the rising sun. Tran Tuan, the owner, said he had visited Japan many times and loved its culture, especially, the style of stores, bars and restaurants in its alleys.

It took him a month to finish decorating the place. "The most challenging part was to paint intricate designs on the walls and windows," Tuan said.

To give its interiors a genuine Japanese vibe, Tuan used small tables and stools without a backrest. He also used a lot of red color in decorating the place. Red is a color that the Japanese associate with the sun, luck, passion and enthusiasm.

Customers can select the coffee beans (arabica, robusta or a mixture of both). The colors, flavors and properties of the beans are clearly mentioned in the menu. The customers are also given water, a syphon and basic instructions on how to brew their own coffee.

Tuan said the coffee was bought directly from farms in Da Lat and Dak Lak in the Central Highlands.

Coffee prices vary from VND30,000-40,000 ($1.3-1.7) per cup. Customers choosing to make their own coffee will pay an additional VND15,000 ($0.7) or so.