Khôi Phạm

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: While the Day Away Under the Green Canopy of Cỏ Cafe

Under a thick canopy of verdant vines and minuscule pink flowers, it’s easy to indulge in the cooling comfort of a glass of iced tamarind juice and while the day away.

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: Come up, We're Watching Old Movies on the Neighbor's Wall

“Thank you for contacting Khôngtrung.bar. Our business hours are 6pm to 1am, Monday to Sunday. Open doors. Cocktails, craft beer, outdoor screening — Thursday and Sunday. Thank you and we hope to bump...

in Vietnam Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: In Đà Nẵng, Góc Nhà Tụi Mình Is Where Tea Time Feels Like Home

As a Đà Nẵng native, I often get asked where and what to eat and drink by friends who are in town. The tried-and-true list of places in my mind always includes Góc Nhà Tụi Mình, which I’ve frequented ...

Linh Phạm

in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks

Ngõ Nooks: What a Tea Ceremony Taught Me About Our Lotus Tea Traditions

“The lotus is our national flower, and lotus tea is regarded as the national tea.”

in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks

Ngõ Nooks: In a 95-Year-Old House, Mết Coffee Sells Drinks, Cozy Conversations

It was a drizzly day. The chilliness and the weepy mood of Hanoi weather drenched me in an unnamed melancholy. I was ambling aimlessly on the street when I came across Mết, a coffee shop in ngõ Yên Th...

in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks

Ngõ Nooks: Cozy up at Ẩn Cà Phê With Morning Coffees and Night Cocktails

In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai’s elegantly restrained movie about married lovers resisting adultery, offers up a delicious cocktail of emotions. At least, that is the concept behind the drinks men...

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: The Secret Realm of Good Vibes Behind the Doors of Passengers Cafe

Like any person born after the year 1990, I am chronically affected by the condition of dawdling at a coffee shop for a supposed boost in productivity and “the vibes” when the clock strikes close to a...

in Architecture

Biên Hòa Cafe Embraces Industrial Design for a Transient Existence

If your dwelling is temporary, how much care do you pay to your surroundings?

in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks

Ngõ Nooks: Cafe Yên, Where the Line Between Coffee Shop and Alley Blurs

Yên (adj): quiet, unmoved.

in Saigon

Saigon Police Want Nhậu Eateries to Report Drunk Customers Who Try to Drive

Now that public gathering is no longer a health hazard, Saigon’s drunk driving epidemic is back in full swing.

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: In Warmth and Good Drinks, an Amiable Cafe's Spirit Lives On

How would you feel if everything about your favorite spot suddenly changed one day? Would the same attachment still stand? Those were the questions that popped into my head the afternoon I paid my vis...

in Vietnam

Vietnamese Drank More Alcohol in Pandemic-Hit 2020, Data Shows

In a year marked by social isolation, Vietnam’s alcohol consumption increased considerably, though it’s not difficult to figure out why. 

Linh Pham

in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks

Ngõ Nooks: Quán Nhạc Cầm Nurtures the Soul Like a Love Song

Albeit ostensibly a coffee shop, Cầm’s specialty is actually old Vietnamese music.

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: Sipping Cocktails on Plastic Stools Is a Special Saigon Street Treat

Is there anything more synonymous with Saigon than the humble street cart? With stalls citywide on every corner, it’s our version of the public house — places where people come together and connect, a...

in Vietnam

From November, Parents Could Be Fined for Letting Children Drink Alcohol

This is one of a number of new alcohol-related regulations coming into force.

in Vietnam

New Decree Makes Selling Beer to People Under 18 a Fineable Offense

Beer is now legally off-limits for Vietnamese teens, but it’s unclear if the regulations will effectively deter underage drinking.

Khôi Phạm

in Saigon Hẻm Gems

Hẻm Gems: In Saigon's Greenest Cafe, a Rabbit, Cotton and Succulents Galore

On a windy autumn day of 2019, I did what any existentially precarious millennial would eventually do some time in their 20s: I bought a houseplant.

in Vietnam

Over 23,000 Drivers Fined for Driving Under Influence in First 2 Months of 2020

After the new bill on alcohol consumption was passed by the National Assembly, stricter regulations on driving after having consumed alcohol were enforced.

in Asia

Indonesia Minister Proposes Taxes to Sugary Drinks, Polluting Vehicles, Plastic Bags

There is a new proposal to tax sugary drinks, plastic bags and cars that release high amounts of carbon dioxide emissions in Indonesia. 

Khôi Phạm

in Arts & Culture

The Unsolved Riddle Behind Cô Mía, Vietnam's Sugarcane Juice Muse

“Oh this drawing?” chị Liên shouted in Vietnamese over the juicer’s raucous purring. “I don’t know who she is. Isn’t it just an advertisement?”