5 Vintage Saigon Coffee Shops
Considered as an addictive substance, Vietnamese coffee is one of the must-try drinks in the top list, especially if you want to feel the heart and soul of this beautiful S-shaped country. No matter how you drink it, with ice or steaming hot, bitter and black or sweet and milky, Vietnamese coffee will never stop surprising you.
As Saigon continues to thrive into the future, through many ups and downs, these over-50-year-old coffee shops are still open and maintain the painstaking brewing technique with a cloth strainer to make an aromatic cup of coffee, which is hardly applied elsewhere in town. The technique involves putting ground coffee beans into the strainer, propping it over the mouth of a pot which Chinese people often use to cook medicinal herbs, pouring in boiled water and letting it steep for 3-4 minutes. The pot helps keeping the smell intact and ensures the coffee stay warm long after being served to customers. As being processed, the coffee will be tastier than that made by modern steel coffee filter. That’s Saigon Coffee Culture in particular, and Vietnamese Coffee Culture in general.
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1. Cheo Leo
Opened in 1938, Cheo Leo is now the oldest café in the city and has remained practically unchanged ever since. The name ‘Cheo Leo’, which means ‘high and dangerous’ in Vietnamese, was due to the fact that the café was miles away from downtown when first built. Before Reunification Day, it was a favorite venue among students of Saigon’s high schools for the gifted such as Pétrus Ky (former name of Le Hong Phong), Chu Van An, Kien Thiet and many famous artists at that time. Presently, it is a preferred drink stop of many foreigners, expats and locals aspiring for a reminder of what Vietnamese coffee used to taste like. The process of making coffee is infinitely elaborate and meticulous. To have a good batch of coffee, tap water must be stored in a tank for 2-3 days to get rid of unwanted smell of disinfectants in water because of which determines the fragrance of coffee. Then the finely ground coffee will be put into a strainer and go through two filtration to produce a perfect cup of coffee. Notably, the best-known drink here is ‘bạc xỉu’- a Chinese-style coffee with a huge amount of condensed milk.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/cheoleocafe/ (Vietnamese)
Address: #109/36 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, Ward 2, District 3, HCMC
Opening hours: 5:15 am to 6:45 pm (Everyday)
Tel: (+84) 1669 626 363
Price range: 8,000 – 15,000VND
2. Chiêu
Built in 1969, through numerous events, Chieu Café has been an iconic symbol for the persistence of Saigon’s coffee culture. The major space of the first floor, considered as Chieu’s ‘soul’, still remains intact, including its furniture and colors. With the interior design full of warm colors, the blend of orange and brown, Chieu Café gives you immensely comfortable vibe. Later, when the shop has more customers, the owner requisitioned the second floor as a small music stage. As the background is filled with music written by Vietnamese famous composers such as Ngo Thuy Mien, Vu Thanh An and Trinh Cong Son, the beautiful green lianas, and ornamental trees make it comfortable to stay for a while. The menu varies from many types of juices, coffee, cocktails to Vietnamese cuisine for breakfast and lunch.
Address: #124/1 Cao Thang Street, Ward 4, District 3, HCMC
Opening hours: 7:30 am to 10:00 pm (Everyday)
Tel: (+84) 28 3839 3217
Price range: 25,000 – 75,000VND
3. Âm Phủ
This was the first café in Saigon that was set on a trolley, has no official name, no brand and no stop for a long period of over 60 years. Therefore, it has such a creepy name Âm Phủ, or Hell café, called by its repeated customers. In Mr. Dang Ngoc Con’s memory, his father began pushing a trolley to the road to sell coffee during the French colonization in the mid-1950s. Then he followed his father’s footsteps and started a small business together with his wife. The coffee trolley is now set inside their small house along with one or two plastic stools and some more outside in the alley after sunset, when there is much more people’s arrival to enjoy this signature coffee.
Address: #330/2 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Phu Nhuan District, HCMC
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 10:00 pm (Everyday)
Price range: 15,000 – 40,000VND
4. Mr. Thanh’s
Mr. Luu Nhan Thanh, a Chinese-Vietnamese man in his 70s, is a coffee lover who used to make coffee for himself and some neighbors every morning. Then one day, one of them proposed a brilliant idea to open a coffee shop and now, the coffee shop has been opened for more than 30 years in the Chinatown of District 11. Like Âm Phủ café, this café has no signboard and is poorly-equipped with only a couple of wooden tables and stools. Yet, the neighbors are still able to find the place by following the combined smell of sweet coffee and firewood smoke. On a daily basis, he always gets up early at 5 am to light up a charcoal stove to boil water, put coffee powder in a racket kept inside a pot and pour in boiled water. After a few minutes, the coffee is poured into a steel kettle, which is heated on the stove before bringing to his very first customers, and many people also call this process coffee-braising. And the result is a fragrant cup of coffee with surprisingly cheap price unchanged for more than 3 decades. There is also a small diner near the shop with just VND 20,000 for a bowl of Chinese-style glass noodles. Then, what is more refreshing than kicking off your day with a bowl of hot noodles and a cup of Saigon coffee with just VND 30,000?
Address: Alley 313 Tan Phuoc Street, District 11 / Behind Thiếc Market
Opening hours: 6:00 am to 17:00 pm (Everyday)
Price range: 4,000VND – 10,000VND
5. Bâng Khuâng
The oldest coffee shop in the red basalt area called Bang Khuang (opened in 1967 at 176 Phan Boi Chau Street, Buon Ma Thuot City) was brought to Saigon by the daughter of the owner. In Vietnamese, ‘Bang Khuang’ is a dazing emotion of human, but here it’s the name of a beautiful purple flower known as Angelonia goyazensis in Latin. Renovated from an apartment in an old building, the path to the café are faded stairs. A nostalgic space with old floral tiles, old bookshelves, and tall, open ceilings. Its simple interior decor with paintings, bicycles, plant baskets hung on the wall are arranged randomly, making customers feel like visiting a close friend’s home. Interestingly, the cuckoo sound will resound whenever someone pushes the door in. The café is on a one-way street so it’s a bit inconvenient that you have to take a detour. Parking is free but just keep in mind to get the free parking ticket at the cashier after paying your bill!
Address: #9 Thai Van Lung Street, District 1, HCMC / 2nd floor
Opening hours: 8:00 am to 11:00 pm (Everyday)
Tel: (+84) 903 878 667
Price range: 40,000 – 110,000VND
That's all about the beauty of the five Vintage Coffee shops in Saigon. They always stay in all Saigoneers' hearts. How about Hanoi - the country's second largest city. To see all the Vintage Coffee Shops in Hanoi, click here
You had me at coffee! I would love to visit any of these vintage coffee shops if I were ever in Saigon.
I’d love to try a coffee made in the traditional way! All your posts make me so excited to visit saigon!
I have never tried Vietnamese coffee but now I so want to. It sounds so delicious. I need to see if we have any Vietnamese coffee shops here.
I will have to give Vietnamese coffee a try. I love to start my day with a great cup of coffee to help me wake up. It would be so fun to get to see these coffee shops in person.
I’ve heard and watched so much of Vietnam’s delicious coffee and I really really like to try it. I like how you describe the process of making Vietnamese coffee.
Wow, so many options! Way better than starbucks that’s for sure…lol! Thanks for sharing.
I am a huge coffee fan. These stops would definitely be on my list!
I am a huge coffee addict. One of my favorite things to do when I travel is seek out coffee shops. What a great list!
Love remembering walking the streets of Saigon but don’t think we stopped at any coffee shops because none of us drink coffee, LOL.
I don’t drink coffee but these seem like interesting sites to explore.
I drink one cup of coffee at the most a day, these coffee shops look amazing. I have never been to Saigon or out of the country.
Gotta visit them all. Looks like a great coffee hop for me.
I have never had Vietnamese coffee, but now I really want to try it! Maybe I can talk my BF into planning a trip for us to Saigon 🙂
if Hanoi’s sympol is “Tra Da”, Sai Gom has Coffe then. I rarely can fine a vintage coffe like this in Hanoi. I haven’t ever been Sai Gon. but the first things when I travel in Sai Gon must be coffee.
Wow… coffee coffee… I love the smell of coffee and its taste when mixed with milk. I am quite impressed by the shop named “Am Phu” it’s so weird. Definitely, I will visit this shop.
Thanks for sharing!
I have always been surrounded with the idea that coffee is not good for health in the long term, so I’m not used to drinking it. However, I do understand that coffee sometimes boost my performance in school works, and these places of your recommendation are just perfect. If I have the chance, I will taste all the types.
I would love to try this out. When in a new place, the first thing that makes me feel home is a warm cup of coffee. There’s something about the rightly brewed cup of coffee that touches heart and freshens up the mind. Really thoughtful of you to bring these places together in one article.
Any time is coffee time and that seems to be the adage in Saigon. This is a charming list of classic and vintage coffee shops. Would love to succumb to the charms of Vietnamese coffee some day.
Vietnam is so close to India. Hope to visit it someday. The culture and food attract me the most. I love trying out coffees. I loved the back story of Âm Phủ. Most big businesses start like this. I love its name also. Quite unconventional.
This is the side of HCM that I’ve not seen! Apart from the cafes, this is cool, too!! 🙂
I’m a Saigonese but this is the first time I’ve heard about these amazing coffee shop in Saigon. Those are such interesting places to enjoy some coffee alone or with some friends. Thanks for your sharing.
This is what I’ve been looking for the whole time. Such vintage corners among the hustle and bustle of the city give me some time to relax at the end of the day. Thanks for sharing this list!
I was just looking for this info for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Generally the top web sites are full of garbage.