Toan Pho Warsaw

The 10th-Anniversary Stadium built in 1955 was the pride of Polish communism, the principal venue for the Party and state festivities. In 1989 it was turned into the most popular bazaar in Poland: the kingdom of illegal goods, pirated records of Michael Jackson and cheap cigarettes from Russia.

A lot of sellers were from the East - and many of them were from Vietnam. Lots of Vietnamese people fleeing the communist regime automatically thought of Poland as a country of the Solidarity and Pope John Paul II. It's said that the greatest Vietnamese film director used to sell socks there and you could find also many professors, actors and other people of culture. You could also find a taste of real Vietnam there - many little bars with typical Vietnamese food.

Eating in this kind of place was becoming more and more popular and it was posh to have your own secret place where you could buy typical Vietnamese sweets or seafood in the Stadium. Now there is the New and Real National Stadium which was built for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012 in Poland.

Luckily, one of those Vietnamese bars has moved from the Stadium to the centre. Everything except the location is the same. The food tastes exactly like in the Stadium. I recommend the soups which are really big. The owners are still the same Vietnamese family and it's still not possible to understand their Polish :).