RESTAURANTS - Coffee

Coffee’s important anywhere, but particularly so in Vietnam. In recent years HIGHLANDS COFFEE raised its hand to become the ‘Vietnam Starbucks,’ with the slickest, Westernest-style locations in the best spots of the city. The best one is across from the Rex Hotel (corner of Le Loi and Nguyen Hue Sts; open 7am to 11pm), atop the refashioned ‘Russian market,’ with three floors and open-air seats.

But! If you’re outrageously serious about coffee – and I am – you’ll go out of your way to get coffee from TRUNG NGUYEN, who have several, slightly less swank, locations across town – but always a little harder to find than Highlands. There are eight beans to choose from – try ‘number eight’ (about 20,000D per cup; US$1.25), ‘weasel’ coffee that’s supposedly picked, eaten and digested by choosey weasels in the highlands.

A few locations to look for:

• Five blocks northwest of the War Remnants Museum (64 Tran Quoc Thao, D3); outdoor seats in front of French villa
• Corner of Ly Tu Trong & Huyen Tran Cong Chua, a block north of Ben Thanh Market; tiny old café, with codgers coming for morning wake-up cups
• Behind Diamond Plaza on Nguyen Van Chiem St, outdoor seats
• Half way to Cho Lon, at the corner of Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Van Cuu Sts; inside seats on three floors

If you buy beans to make when you get home, making Vietnamese coffee isn’t necessarily as easy as it looks. Check this blog for directions.

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