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Friday, 12 December 2014 23:31 Written by The Word Be the first to comment!
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The Wordies Awards 2014: The Top Cafés in Vietnam
We knew this one would be tricky, as soon as we tried to schedule a meeting at Ho Chi MinhCity’s The Workshop café. Waiting upstairs for everyone to arrive, a team member sent this text:“Lol i can’t afford workshop’s coffee, im on the sidewalk outside”.
And so the divide is growing, as more cafés offer speciality roasts and Chemexbrewed cups (TheWorkshop offers five brewing options for dripfilter coffee) at the expense of the classic ca phe.On Ho Chi Minh City’s chaindrinking list, one notable omission was ca phe sua daspecialist Trung Nguyen — faring as well, with three votes, as Hanoi’s leastfavourite corporate,Starbucks.
It seems Saigonese just want to see and be seen — top votegetter L’Usine doubles as the bestcafé in Ho Chi Minh City to take a selfie at.
They also want to have outlets next to every table — at WORK Saigon, you’re a straightup nerd ifyou don’t have a Macbook — and sip lattes poured with masterful rosettes. In Hanoi, CongCaphe, Tet Decor Café and Café Nha San are all atmosphere, focusing on a textured past ratherthan a sleek future. They’re social spaces — like top Hanoi votegetter The Hanoi Social Club —whose quirkiness just helps the conversation flow. So we present: The Top Cafés in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City
It used to be enough to have airconditioning and noninvasive music. The smooth surfaces ofmidlisters Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Starbucks hearken back to that era, and offer deliciouscoffee confections besides. Phuc Long has a few more placespecific edges, managing to standout in a sea of corporatecomelatelies like nearmiss Urban Station, and farmisses like My LifeCoffee and The Coffee Factory.
But that’s not where the heat is at in Saigon, which also toplisted designheavy favourites such aslead votegetter L’usine, the thoughtful architecture of ID Café and two places with ‘work’ in thename — coworking surrogates The Workshop and WORK Saigon. These places are hip enoughto make it in world cities like New York or Melbourne, but faithful enough to local design traditionsto only be possible in Saigon.
Escaping the trendwatch are our second and thirdhighest votegetters — Café RuNam and CucGach Café, respectively. With their cool vintage stylings, they’re not tapping into global currents —rather a current that is very localised, and runs very deep. And while we’re on the topic, we want togive an honorary mention to Things Café, which might be too niche for even our expert judges,located in the crumbling cafétattoovintage clothing mecca of 14 Ton That Dam, Q1. It’s alsohome to three other cult favourites: The Other Person Café, Mockingbird Café and Nep Café.
And rounding out the Top 10 is a true original, Fly Cupcake Garden. Synthesising the Saigoneselove of cupcakes with Alice in Wonderlandlike decor is a challenge, but the Fly Cupcake empirebuilders did so with finesse in their premises on Tu Xuong. And it’s fittingly on the periphery of thislist, representative of the stillalternative café corridor it shares with other standouts like Den &Trang, Café Cuckoo’s Nest and the second iteration of ID Café. Hanoi
When talk turns to where to get a healthy meal that isn’t light on flavour, you’d be surprised not tohear about The Hanoi Social Club, which now enjoys cult status in the capital. Tucked away inthe central business district on Hoi Vu, this rustic cafécumlive music venue has topped our pollswith its hearty gourmet cuisine and refreshing homemade drinks menu.
Close behind, Cong Caphe’s iconic Communistthemed hangouts have also earned your
collective highfives, with their precisionlike consistency, effortlessly cool spaces and rigorousdedication to artisan coffee.
Arthouse café and gallery space Manzi has also gotten your tick of approval. Beautifully designedin a colonialera villa, the contemporary art hub has won a place in the hearts of Hanoi’s art loversand homegrown artists with its constant flood of exhibitions and stage performances.Injecting a dose of North American café culture into our list, Joma has carved out some seriouskudos from this year’s voters with its killer mugs of fair trade coffee, tasty bagel eggers anddelicious pastries baked fresh, daily.
Tay Ho’s Tet Décor Café also rounds out our Top 5. After being open for barely a year, it hasquickly attracted a loyal band of followers that flock there for its strong flat whites, farmfreshproduce and organic cooking. The café also doubles as a comfy showroom for the uber rusticfurniture designs of the Tet Lifestyle Collection. Modern hipster hangout the KAfe has also earned a place on our list. The urban café’s focus onaffordable quality and its international menu was a muchneeded game changer for Hanoi’sculinary establishment. Its wide selection of tapas dishes and handmade cupcakes have nowmade it a pet favourite.
Even with so many new kids on the block, it’s hard to shake an institution like Puku that’ll delivergreasy hash browns and bacon sandwiches to your door at literally any hour of the day. Furthernorth, fellow brunchmaster Commune follows close behind with its modestbutpoignant mix ofbaguettes and breakfast treats.
Newcomer Six Degrees on Nghi Tam has made a big splash this year with its sweeping views ofWest Lake and the Red River, while serving up reasonably priced gourmet cuisine and curious
sounding waffle sandwiches.
Nha San Café, a rural Muong ethnic minority house on stilts run by the avantgarde Nha SanCollective, is located in the quiet streets of Vinh Phuc. With its impressive collection of SubsidyEra and wartime antiques, and unpretentious drinksonly menu, it’s easy to see why this one hascharmed its way into the final spot in our Top 10.
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More in this category: « The Wordies Awards 2014: The Top Bars in Vietnam The Wordies Awards 2014: The TopNightclubs in Vietnam »
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