Salt Coffee, Cà Phê Muối, Hue, Vietnam

Salt Coffee: Cà Phê Muối

The story of a unique drink created in a local cafe in Hue that went from being a secret recipe to a nationwide success…

Ode to Hammock Cafes in Vietnam: Cà Phê Võng

Cà Phê Võng: Ode to Hammock Cafes

Places to rest, drink, sleep, eat & take shelter when on the road, hammock cafes are a valuable resource for long-distance travellers in Vietnam…

A Guide to Drinking & Nightlife in Hue, Vietnam

Drinking & Nightlife in Hue

Artisanal breweries, local beer restaurants, dive bars for resident artists, chic cocktail lounges for posers & budget hangouts for backpackers…

Bancong Cafe, Hanoi

Bancông Cafe | Hanoi

A heritage building in the capital’s Old Quarter houses a nostalgic coffee shop, keeping the city’s younger generation in touch with its past…

Horizon Rooftop Bar, Four Points by Sheraton-Marriott, Da Nang, Vietnam

Horizon Rooftop Bar | Four Points, Da Nang

Sip locally brewed craft beer or cocktails next to an infinity pool with panoramic views of Da Nang city & beachfront from the rooftop of the Four Points by Sheraton…

19 Coffee Shops in Đà Lạt With a View

19 Coffee Shops in Dalat With a View

Dozens of cool, cosy, photogenic, independent coffee shops with countryside views form one of the most exciting coffee scenes in Asia…

21 Great Places for Cocktails on Phu Quoc Island

21 Great Places for Cocktails on Phu Quoc Island

Stylish sky bars with sunset views, windowless speakeasies with professional mixologists, rustic-chic wine bars above the waves, cheap beach shacks & much more…

Mun's Cafe & London Pub, Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Mun’s Cafe & Rum Bar | Phu Quoc Island

Overlooking an attractive bay on Phu Quoc Island, this unpretentious, open-side little beach bar & cafe is an inexpensive & informal place for a sunset cocktail…

Trà Đá: Vietnamese Iced Tea

Trà Đá: Ode to Vietnamese Iced Tea

An ubiquitous but uncelebrated part of daily life in Vietnam, iced tea (trà đá) is an essential component of dining culture & social life…

The Cafe Apartment at 14 Ton That Dam Street, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The Cafe Apartment at No.14 Ton That Dam, Saigon

The old apartment block on Ton That Dam Street, in downtown Saigon, has been colonized by cool cafes, hipster bars & fashion boutiques. Gritty & intriguing architectural vestiges lurk in every nook & cranny of this enigmatic French colonial-era complex….

The Juice Lady, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The Juice Lady, Saigon

I’ve only recently started to visit my local juice lady in Saigon. Now, however, I go there every day for fresh fruit juices & smoothies. In Vietnam, fruit juices are often served with added sugar, and smoothies with condensed milk, but it’s pretty easy to order them without…

Cafe Culture on Con Son Island

Vietnam has a rich & thriving cafe culture – probably among the most active, dynamic, and independent cafe scenes in the world. And now, the cult of coffee has reached the remote, utterly beautiful island of Con Son, in the Con Dao Archipelago….

The Boat Cafe (La Ngon), Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City

The Boat Cafe, Saigon

Two wooden junks floating on the milk tea-coloured waters of the Kenh Te Canal in District 7, The Boat Cafe is one of those special places in Saigon that offer respite from the noise & chaos of the city without actually leaving it…

The Banyan Tree Cafe, Route 28, Central Highlands, Vietnam

The Cafe by the Banyan Tree

Named after a grand old tree by the roadside, this cafe is located on the scenic road between Phan Thiet & Di Linh, in the Central Highlands. With good views & strong local coffee, it makes a pleasant pit-stop on a motorbike road trip…

Paradiso Beach Club, Sao Beach, Phu Quoc Island

Paradiso Beach Club, Phu Quoc Island

Occupying the best spot on Bai Sao, the most popular beach on Phu Quoc Island, Paradiso Beach Club is a great place to chill, drink, eat & swim…

Photo & Bike Cafe, Bao Loc, Central Highlands, Vietnam

Coffee with a View: Photo & Bike Cafe

The Central Highlands is famous for its coffee and its mountains. Photo & Bike Cafe marries these two elements nicely, making it the perfect pit-stop on any road trip that passes through Bao Loc, on the way between Saigon and Dalat…

The Cafe Apartment on Nguyen Hue Street, Saigon

The Cafe Apartment on Saigon’s Walking Street

Boasting over 30 independent coffee shops & fashion boutiques, the old apartment block at No.42 Nguyen Hue is the coolest address on Saigon’s Walking Street. I call it the Cafe Apartment: this is my complete floor-by-floor guide…

The Cafe Quarter, Phu Nhuan District, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

The Café Quarter, Saigon

In Phú Nhuận District – Saigon’s unofficial ‘café capital’ – a small grid of leafy streets plays host to a collection of trendy coffee shops. Bounded by the Thị Nghè Channel and Phan Xích Long Boulevard, I call this the ‘Café Quarter’…

Rice wine pudding

Hot Toddy | Rice Wine Pudding in Cao Bang

Fermented glutinous rice mixed together with an egg & steamed to create a mildly alcoholic rice pudding…..for breakfast

The hidden 'indie' cafes of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam

Saigon’s Hidden Cafes

Saigon has thousands of independent coffee shops. Hidden down narrow alleyways, tucked away in forgotten colonial villas, or concealed in enigmatic old apartment buildings, there’s a whole sub-culture of ‘indie’ cafes in this city. These are my favourites.

Rooftop Cocktails

TOP 5: Rooftop Cocktails in Saigon

Saigon is at the heart of Vietnam’s economic boom: new high-rises and five-star hotels go up every year. On the upper storeys there are stylish bars with views over the city, catering to the country’s nouveau-riche and wealthy foreign visitors. But, with the price of drinks still relatively low, rooftop cocktails are affordable for travellers on all budgets, especially if you make the most of Happy Hours.

Cà Phê Bệt, Saigon

Cà Phê Bệt: Saigon’s Street Coffee Scene

At 5 o’clock in the afternoons in Saigon, high schools and universities disgorge their students into the busy streets. Dusk is one of the coolest times of day, and many of these students head for one of the city’s parks, where they buy food and drink from street vendors and sit on the grass talking into the evening hours – this is Cà Phê Bệt.

Food & Drink Map

This is a map of all my Food & Drink Guides. Zoom in, click a marker, then click the link in the description to go directly to the guide.