Some restaurants surprise you before you’ve even opened the menu. At Café Dalat in Lausanne, the first surprise is the setting: a former funicular station that once ferried locals up to the Signal de Sauvabelin.
Today, instead of commuters, the little chalet at Place du Vallon 5 welcomes diners with the scent of lemongrass, ginger, and grilled meats wafting out onto the street. It feels both unexpected and inevitable—because of course such a space should become a gathering spot again, just with bowls of pho instead of train tickets.
Inside, Buddha statues and bamboo accents offer a gentle nod to Vietnam, while the terrace, tucked away just in front, makes you forget you’re in the middle of the city. There’s a certain coziness to it all, a lived-in charm that resists the overly polished minimalism you find elsewhere.
The menu is generous, ranging from the classics—pho, bo bun imperial, crisp nems—to the slightly more daring (frog legs with lemongrass, anyone?). In colder months, they even serve a Vietnamese-style fondue: meats and seafood dipped into a bubbling broth, then rolled into rice paper parcels. It’s the kind of dish that turns dinner into an experience, equal parts convivial and comforting.
Café Dalat isn’t the kind of place you stumble upon accidentally. It’s tucked away, not flashy, and you’ll almost certainly need a reservation if you want a table at peak hours. But that’s part of its charm...it feels like a secret passed along by word of mouth. For Lausanne locals, it’s one of those restaurants you keep in your back pocket, the one you recommend when someone asks, “Where can I get really good Vietnamese food around here?”
And maybe that’s what makes Café Dalat special. It isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel or play into trends. It’s simply doing what it does well: serving authentic, aromatic dishes in a space with a story, reminding us that dining out can be both transportive and deeply rooted in place.
Café Dalat
Place du Vallon 5
1011 Lausanne
