Everything in Saigon happens on a red plastic chair or stool. In Vietnam red means luck and happiness and also “sit here, the pho is ready.” 😊
I’ve eaten the best meals of my life on red plastic chairs. Com tam suon, hunched over broken rice and grilled pork, green onion oil dripping off the spoon, my knees pressed against a table😆.
Ca phe sua da sweating in a glass, sitting so low to the ground, watching motorbikes pass. Nobody looks comfortable on a red plastic chair. Everybody looks at home.
Back in Vietnam after almost two weeks in Cambodia, and the first thing I want is a cup in my hand and a chair in the shade. So here it is: a week in coffee, one cup at a time.
Cà Phê Trứng 3T — 10 Sương Nguyệt Ánh I had been wanting to try this place for months, and I finally walked in. Pleasantly surprised is putting it mildly, because the coffee turned out to be buy one, get one free! Any coffee on the menu. I tried a salted egg coffee for the first time and then a cà phê sữa đá to follow, and they bring you a small teapot of trà đá on the side too. 60K VND, about $2.28, for all of that.
Cà Rê Café — 35 Nguyễn Văn Tráng My favourite mint green building. I had a salted creamy coffee here for 55K VND, around $2.09. All of these cafés and shops are tucked into old apartments, which is exactly why they have such eclectic, lived-in vibes.
Highlands Coffee — Coconut Americano (Americano Nước Dừa) I will be honest about this one. It tasted like a strong black coffee with a drop of coconut water stirred in. Not the specialty coconut coffee with milk and sugar I had in my head. Fine, but not the thing. And my health is better for it. 😂
Trung Nguyên E-Coffee — Bùi Thị Xuân The best salted coffee I have had in Saigon, full stop. 35K VND, about $1.33. Modern, open air, free wifi, the kind of place that looks like the coffee should cost a fortune. It doesn’t.
Sipfé — Peanut Butter Coffee! A flashback to the day before I left for Cambodia. I was wandering the streets and passed a café with Peanut Butter Coffee right there on the menu. “Note to self.” So, I came back to give it a proper try, 85K, and it was so good!
Highlands Coffee — Phạm Ngũ Lão 35K. Not a destination so much as a survival decision. It has been too hot for the street stands lately, and the need to duck into an air-conditioned café gets a little overwhelming.
Tào Florist (Tào Café) Cà phê sữa đá for 30K. Very small and somehow spacious at the same time, with low tables and chairs spilling inside and out. The owner was attentive and kind, which is half of why I would go back.
The husband-and-wife stand — a hẻm off Lê Thị Riêng – 17K, about 65 cents, for a cà phê sữa đá takeaway, run by a man and his wife in an alley off Lê Thị Riêng. The cheapest one around, and I love how they make it. Condensed milk at the bottom of the cup, half a shot of espresso, stirred, then ice, then the other half of the espresso poured over the top. That first sip lands hard! And I love that. 😊
Wanting a cool place to sit and get out of the heat, I headed out thinking I was hunting for a new café. At the end of Bùi Viện I saw Phúc Long, went inside, and then stopped short at 35K for a cà phê sữa đá when I know it is better on the street and 20K. A café in this city is only worth it to me if I am there for a specialty coffee or a matcha. Otherwise, stay on the streets and support the locals. And I still get to sit in the shade and read my book for as long as I want.
Nguyen Van Hao Building, sometimes called Saigon’s Art Deco Flatiron. It’s one of the most important pre-war commercial buildings still standing in the city.
The story: Nguyen Van Hao was born in 1890 in Tra Vinh Province, came to Saigon poor, started as an apprentice at his stepbrother’s auto parts shop. He saved money, opened his own automobile accessory store at 19-21 Boulevard Gallieni (now Tran Hung Dao), and became one of the wealthiest businessmen in Saigon by the 1920s and 30s. He made his fortune off the growing demand for cars and long-distance travel across the Mekong Delta.
He commissioned this building in the late 1920s. Construction finished in 1937. It was both his family residence and his business offices. The building became known as the “Nguyen Van Hao Garage” because he displayed famous automobile brands there. He also built a petrol station nearby and financed the Nguyen Van Hao Theater on the corner of Tran Hung Dao and De Tham (now the HCMC Drama Theater), which became one of Saigon’s most important performance venues. In 1945, that theater was where the public meeting was held that launched the August Revolution.
The building itself sits at the triangular junction of Tran Hung Dao, Ky Con, and Yersin streets, right across from Ben Thanh Market. It’s a wedge-shaped Art Deco flatiron, about 100 years old now, with beautiful curved lines.
Hao left Saigon in 1966 after his wife died, returned to Tra Vinh, and left the building to his son. It’s been decaying for decades. There have been reports of renovation efforts, and some Airbnb apartments have operated inside it.
“Vì bình yên cuộc sống”, which translates to “For the peace of life.”
The group represents different branches of public service and society—you can spot police/military figures, a civilian worker, an older woman (likely symbolizing the public or elders), and a child.
Reflects post-war Vietnam’s emphasis on:
* Collective unity over individual heroism * Gratitude toward those who maintain public order * The idea that peace is active, not passive—it’s built and protected
