Hẻm Gems: Amid Saigon's Heat, a Wintry Ambiance in Xocoati's Cozy Cocoa Drinks
Amidst Saigon’s year-round scorching heat, I crave coziness — a feeling that often comes with snuggling under heavy blankets in my Hanoian winter. I was searching for some comfort and “winter vibe” sp...
Vietnam's Trendiest Way to Flaunt Your Social Status Is a Meme Lychee Tea
Lychee tea can be found anywhere and anytime around Saigon, from street stalls to artisanal cafes. Averaging VND20,000–50,000, it’s a popular choice among Vietnamese youths. However, Thái Công Cafe pr...
With Thriving Coffee Culture, Vietnam Has Half a Million Cafes, Data Shows
Taking into account global and national chains, small brands, independent cafes and street vendors, a recent report estimates that Vietnam is home to more than 500,000 coffee shops that generate US$1....
Hẻm Gems: Mơ Đi Hội, When Florists Dream of Opening a Cafe
When book lovers open a café, we are blessed with book cafes; when animal lovers open a café, we are given a myriad of animal cafes; what happens when florists open a café? This is the case of Mơ Đi H...
Ngõ Nooks: Bingsu, Folk Crafts, and Hanboks at Hanoi's Hayoon Cafe
“What inspired you to open a Korean cafe?” I ask Giang, the manager of Hayoon Cafe in Nam Từ Liêm, a popular Korean district in Hanoi.
Hẻm Gems: Tokyo Moon Cafe Introduces Homey Korean Flavors to Japan Town
Stepping into Tokyo Moon is like venturing into a world of wonders, neatly packed within a mere 35-square-meter space.
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.
Hẻm Gems: Reading Cabin Sells Stationery, Serves Drinks, and Builds Friendships
If I had to describe Reading Cabin in one phrase, it would be “every cafe in Saigon all at once.”
Hẻm Gems: Trứng's Divine Flan Is What Happens When Saigon Dreams of Japanese Desserts
My slight obsession with Japanese-style flan started in Tokyo, but it’s taken on a new life here in Saigon.
Hẻm Gems: Đà Lạt's Nomadic 'Cafe' Has No Menu, No Store, and One Table
During a recent trip to Đà Lạt, a friend invited me for coffee at 5:30am. The frosty climate of the Central Highlands mornings concerned me, but upon hearing the pitch about a whimsical cafe that oper...
Ngõ Nooks: Tender Bar Is an Introvert's Haven, Except on Tuesdays
“Just read it and forget it. Then you can write anything you like about Tender Bar. Thank you.”
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...
Ngõ Nooks: Căng Tin Cafe, a Gateway to the Past for the City's New Youth
Hanoi’s café scene is saturated with cafés selling a vision of the past.
Khôi Phạm in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Saigoneer's Picks of Saigon's 5 Best Cafes to Poop At
What brings you to coffee shops? Novelty beverages, mellow playlists, a feeling of home, proximity, or just simply convenience — all are valid attributes that have endeared me to many of my favorite c...
Ngõ Nooks: The 'Tiny' Cafe That Contains Multitudes
Hidden down a quiet alley opposite the B-52 Victory Museum on Đội Cấn in Ba Đình District is the gateway to Tiny Cafe. Make sure you look carefully, as the sign is easily missed, and this isn’t somewh...
Hẻm Gems: Café Slow Cultivates a Natural Habitat for Creature Comforts
It's incredibly challenging to set yourself apart in Ho Chi Minh City's overcaffeinated café scene. The city's narrow streets and hẻms are brimming with beans.
Ngõ Nooks: The Peculiarity of a Coffee Sanctuary With No Menu and No Address
"SOLitude" — At first glance, the word conjures a sense of melancholic privateness in my ever-anxious soul. But not in a pessimistic way, fortunately.
Ngõ Nooks: Cafe Yên, Where the Line Between Coffee Shop and Alley Blurs
Yên (adj): quiet, unmoved.
Hẻm Gems: Hide From the Monsoon Rain at Đặng Thị Nhu's Lost & Found Cafe
Lost & Found Café is a newly opened sister establishment to the popular Lost & Found Bar. Both adopt a pre-1975 Saigon vibe that I, as a Gen-Z Saigoneer who is nostalgic for old Saigon, immediate...
Khôi Phạm in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: The Dream of the 2010s Is Alive at Pacey Cupcakes
Pick your favorite cupcake flavor; perhaps a pitcher of hot fragrant tea too. Ascend the dizzyingly steep flight of stairs. Mind your head. Tread gently on the wooden attic floor. There your friends a...
Ngõ Nooks: A Salted Coffee in Gạt Tàn Is Not What It Sounds Like
Is it not just the weirdest combination ever, coffee and salt?
Ngõ Nooks: At Đống Đa's Gác Miên Cafe, a Midsummer's Dream
“Gác" means attic, but “Miên,” on the other hand, is something almost untranslatable, simply because there is no word in English that can fully encapsulate its essence.
Hẻm Gems: In a Converted Classroom Lives the Unique Open Space of Nhà Phạm
Having ventured into Saigon's food scene for a while, I have one guiding principle: the best spots are always the ones circulating via word of mouth. Quiet corners, culinary rarities and communities t...
Ngõ Nooks: Sample Creative Coffee and Hide From Life at Chốn Hạ Hồi
Definitely not an easy-to-stumble-upon coffee shop, Chốn is located in a small, deep alley.
Ngõ Nooks: Board Game Café Minipolo Bonds Friends Over Snakes and Lattes
Hanoi is no stranger to the board game café niche, but something about Minipolo has groups of friends flocking here day and night to fill the atmosphere with chatter, laughter and the occasional, inev...
Khoi Pham in Vietnam Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: Da Lat's Ngàn Cafe Is as Comforting as an Embrace
Walking down Da Lat’s Robin Hill amid emerald pine trees and languid fluffs of cloud, one’s eyes will inevitably encounter a visual disturbance in the form of bright orange plastic maple trees. They a...
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.
Hẻm Gems: Thời Thanh Xuân, the Special Saigon Cafe Run by Deaf Staff
Quán của Thời Thanh Xuân not only encompasses the youth of its founder, Võ Thành Luân, it’s also where hard-of-hearing Vietnamese can write their own story, learn, focus on self-development, and be a ...
Ngõ Nooks: Sonder Cafe, a Home for Whimsical Drinks and Cool Beans
sonder (n): the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
Paul Christiansen in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: A Home for Live Music and Quietude Inside an Old French Villa
If Vừng Ơi Mở Ra Cafe were a person, it would be your older, more sophisticated and welcoming friend.
Paul Christiansen in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: Spice up Your Study Session With a Warm Ginger Coffee at An Miên
”The flower was never meant to survive the fruit's triumph.”
Michael Tatarski in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: R House, a Haven for Rescued Dogs, Healthy Eats, and Adoption Opportunities
For dogs, dog owners and general fans of man's best friend, living in Saigon can be tough.
In Search of Charming Cafes Along Saigon's Train Alleys
Compared to Hanoi’s now-restricted Phung Hung “Train Street,” the neighborhoods bordering the railway in Saigon have neither the romanticism nor goosebumps-inducing adrenaline rush that turned the for...
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.
Ngõ Nooks: Loading T Serves up Decadent Egg Coffee in a 1930s Architectural Gem
Travel back in time to a café within a charming 1930s building, only a few hundred meters away from St Joseph’s Cathedral.
Hẻm Gems: Hiding From Influencers in an Old-School Saigon Cafe
"Saigon in its golden age was a time to be remembered and passed down to younger generations. The vintage aesthetic trend in Vietnam has been around for a couple of years now and for me, it is a cause...
Ngõ Nooks: Cu Xa, the Cafe That Awakens Your Childhood Self
“Where is home?” is a question that at some point has probably nagged everyone who feels caught between worlds. To the owner of a retro cafe in Hanoi’s southern Dong Da District, it’s Cu Xa.
Khoi Pham in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: Cam Cam Kafe and the Fujian Pagoda That Inspired Its Name
I wish I could claim that I discovered Cam Cam Kafe by myself. Tucked away in a corner unit up the second floor of a nondescript apartment in District 5, the coffee shop seems mostly undetectable from...
Khoi Pham in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Hẻm Gems: Refreshing Chè at Hiển Khánh, a 60-Year-Old Retro Hangout
Relishing a bowl of assorted chè at Thach Che Hien Khanh is more than just an afternoon spent shooting the breeze with friends, it’s also a trip down memory lane and an exploration into Saigon’s herit...
Hẻm Gems: A Cuppa in Saigon's Oldest Cafe
One of the first things Co Suong does when we sit down in the back of her tiny District 3 cafe is bring out the newspaper clippings.
