Apart from the obligatory jasmine tea the cafe serves coffee (including the traditional Vietnamese drip coffee), ice cream, beer and even cocktails.
From this vantagepoint the road appears to be truly a force of nature, a faster version of the many Ho Chi Minh City rivers. All that traffic makes one hell of a noise, which Điểm Hẹn tries to drown out by playing pop music at high decibel. When I was there I heard Lenka at least once, reminding me of the time I had met her at the Tender Trap nightclub in Sydney back in 1996.
Kissaten: 361/21/2 Nyugen Dinh Chieu St, Dist. 3.
Phone: 832 6783. Email: kissaten@pvthcm.org.
"Kissaten" is the old Japanese word for "cafe", and this place is
reputedly haunted by Japan-loving Vietnamese. It is like a little
piece of Japan in Vitenam. While the cafe owner has never actually
been to Japan, he/she learnt how to conduct a proper Japanese tea
ceremony just by looking at photos and reading books about the
matter. Properly prepared and poured Japanese tea doesn't come cheap
-- in this case it costs 100,000 Dong. Ice cream costs 35,000 Dong,
Orange Coffee 20,000 Dong. The place is packed with Japanese and
Vietnamese on Friday nights.
Luna Cafe: 122A Pasteur St, Dist. 1. Phone: 822 6665.
Email: luna@hcm.vnn.vn.
This a cafe run by and for Japanese, although I am sure other
nationalities are welcome. Featuring Japanese food, Fast Food,
Vietnamese food, manga comic books, and so on.
Trung Nguyen: Chain cafe, outlets across Ho Chi Minh City and quite possible coming to a place near you. On March 9 2007 I made my third and most recent visit to Vietnam. As soon as I had found a hotel in Pham Ngu Lao and had dropped my bags off there, I was keen to challenge Saigon's famous dining scene. I didn't have any particular destination in mind, I just started walking. My first port of call was the Trung Nguyen Cafe, situated on a busy intersection opposite the Van Canh restaurant (perhaps it is on the corner of Nguyen Thai Hoc St and Tran Hung Dao Avenue -- anyway, it is in that general part of town.) I ordered deep fried beef and a Tiger. I flirted with the cute waitress as she tried to squat a fly which kept bothering my food ("You're never going to catch it -- those flies have eyes in the backs of their heads!" I implored.)
Nearby me, what looked to be a Singaporean family purveyed the extensive selection of Vietnamese coffee beans on display, in a corner of the cafe.
I didn't know this at the time, but it turns out that Trung Nguyen Coffee is actually one of the big coffee companies in Vietnam, and that the Trung Nguyen Cafe chain is Vietnam's answer to Starbucks! As Greenspun has reported: "Capitalizing on an emerging, affluent middle-class and the simple attractions of aromatic coffee, 31-year-old entrepreneur Dang Le Nguyen Vu has successfully launched Vietnam's first nationwide franchise.
"Call it Starbucks, Vietnam-style.
"Over the past four years, Vu's chain of Trung Nguyen cafes has grown to more than 400 outlets in all of Vietnam's provinces, from the busy Ho Chi Minh City to rural of Sapa on the northern border. In Vietnamese, Trung Nguyen means "Central Highlands", an area famous for its coffee, and Vu now wants to spread the reputation of his coffee label well beyond Vietnam's borders.
"'I want to have the Vietnamese brand name of Trung Nguyen well known in the world. Our coffee is good. There's no reason we can't do it,' Vu said.
"Bold words, but Vu has already bucked the odds by successfully operating in a communist country that still favors state-owned enterprises over private business.
"Trung Nguyen's wildfire growth in Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee exporter, is testament to Vu's vision, not to mention the notable absence of a certain coffee giant.
"Although Seattle-based Starbucks has made sizable headway in the region, in Japan, Thailand and China, among others, it still has no presence in Vietnam. High tariffs on imported roasted coffee ensured the dominance of the local coffee industry and an opportunity for an enterprising medical student..."
I didn't know this at the time, but apparently Trung Nguyen Cafe is a good place to sample one of the best coffee brews in the world -- the notorious Vietnamese weasel shit coffee. Anyway, I really love Vietnamese coffee but I was scared of sampling the wares at Trung Nguyen Cafe today, because strong caffeine tends to give me migraines. More about this disturbing handicap of mine later! The beef dish was great nonetheless and I hope to return to the cafe later, to see if I can get some of that weasel shit brew!
On March 9 2007 I made my third and most recent visit to Vietnam. As soon as I had found a hotel in Pham Ngu Lao and had dropped my bags off there, I was keen to challenge Saigon's famous dining scene. I didn't have any particular destination in mind, I just started walking. My first port of call was the Trung Nguyen Cafe, situated on a busy intersection opposite the Van Canh restaurant (perhaps it is on the corner of Nguyen Thai Hoc St and Tran Hung Dao Avenue -- anyway, it is in that general part of town.) I ordered deep fried beef and a Tiger. I flirted with the cute waitress as she tried to squat a fly which kept bothering my food ("You're never going to catch it -- those flies have eyes in the backs of their heads!" I implored.)
Nearby me, what looked to be a Singaporean family purveyed the extensive selection of Vietnamese coffee beans on display, in a corner of the cafe.