The facade
The red-orange marquee letters
Warm cream marquee bulbs on red, with “135/50 TRẦN HƯNG ĐẠO, Q1” painted below — the clearest way to spot the shop from the street.
The shop sits at 135/50 Trần Hưng Đạo, Cầu Ông Lãnh ward, District 1, in a red-orange tube-house storefront: warm cream marquee-bulb letters, the address and “Q1” painted below, a wooden-framed glass door, a red perpendicular hanging sign. Outside are two concrete cylinder stools, large ribbed ceramic urns, a tree in a big planter, the A-frame price board, and a small blackboard reading “Parking” on the window ledge.
Inside there are two floors. The ground floor is a cream-toned lounge: woven bamboo baskets, colourful hand-painted folk masks, a large conical hat on the wall; a rattan-framed sofa with grey cushions, a dark-green cane-sided armchair, a round white pedestal table, a wooden coffee table, black leather poufs, rattan peacock-style chairs by big windows with grey curtains. The mezzanine has a dark railing and a tall green plant wall. Greenery fills the shop, with a designated smoking section, a back space for workshops, and indoor and outdoor seating on both floors.
The menu centres on coffee: egg coffee, salt coffee, Vietnamese coffee, coconut milk coffee, Vietnamese matcha latte, espresso latte, cappuccino — with salted egg croissant, golden croissant and roast-pork banh mi to eat. The room is quiet and calming, made for lingering as the mood takes you; the Tet corner with red tablecloths, yellow chrysanthemums, red branches, a yellow lion-dance head and ceramic figurines is the shop's seasonal corner.
