I know I am enamored with the design of the large coffeehouses in HCMC, and I love the cà phê. But I am especially interested in the social usage of the large coffeehouses by Vietnamese. Any morning or evening will find these cafés full of people lingering over coffee.
America just does not have a similar custom, and there are none of these kind of venues in the USA. Americans might stop into the local Starbucks in the morning and read the newspaper in a half-hour's time, but more often than not, Americans get their coffee to go. In Saigon, citizens spend a few hours lingering over one coffee or fruit drink. The real reason they are there is to socialize in a comfortable setting. Saturday and Sunday mornings are the busiest times -- all of the cafes large and small are crowded with groups of people. And I said they spend a few hours -- maybe two on the average. When I visit these cafes with my friend, we always spend 2.5 hours socializing.
The range of groups run from large families with small children on down to couples. You rarely see a lone person in these large cafes on the weekend mornings. I often see a couple of couples together socializing. While American couples might go to a restaurant together in an evening, Vietnamese couples meet at the cafe in the morning. And this is not Japan -- these groups are almost always mixed male and female.
I think people flock to the cafes because they are very comfortable places to relax and talk, compared to the typical Vietnamese household. These coffeehouses are much quieter than the houses on the narrow lanes, and the cafes often feature very good Vietnamese and western music played at a level where you can still talk.
It is surprising to me that there are so many of these large cafes like Miền Đồng Thảo Café around Ho Chi Minh City. Since cà phê dá (iced coffee) runs about 30 to 35,000 VN đồng (US$2), they are certainly not cheap by Vietnamese standards. I usually buy coffee for 6,000 VND ($.34) on a workday morning at my local café. I asked my friend what he thought the average monthly income might be for most of the people in this cafe this last Saturday morning, and he figured 8 to 10 million VND (US$560/month). That represents the middle class in Vietnamese cities like HCMC. My friend recognized people he knows such as stock brokers and advertising people. The middle class continues to grow in Vietnam in spite of the worldwide economic crisis.
But this cafe society extends to all levels of economic strata in Vietnamese life. While the middle and upper stratas of society congregate in these large cafes, lower stratas (such as myself on weekdays) meet and socialize in the smaller neighborhood cafés. And the majority of people all around Vietnam simply gather at the sidewalk (literally) cafés. I often see the same large groups of people at the same street places as I walk to the bus each morning.
Since café socializing is such an important part of Vietnamese life in the cities, I am dismayed that tourists or expats rarely make it to these wonderful coffeehouses. There are very few of these kind of places downtown, and the coffeehouses downtown are like Starbucks back in the USA, except that they are enterprizing Vietnamese versions of Starbucks like Highlands Coffee (there are no Starbucks in Vietnam yet). Therefore tourists that simply satisfy their craving for coffee in the usual international forms like espresso, missing the real Vietnamese experience of relaxation and socializing in a very beautiful comfortable setting.
The particular café featured in this posting is in the district between downtown and the airport, Phú Nhuận.
Located at 221A Đường (Street) Nguyễn Trọng Tuyền where it crosses the railroad tracks, you leave your motorbike at the garage at the street and walk 20 meters along the railroad tracks to the entrance.
This coffeehouse is owned by the same company that owns Du Miên Café at 48/9A Hồ Biểu Chánh in Quận Phú Nhuận. While Du Miên is a very modernist design well integrated with the landscape design, this cafe is a mash of different styles around a well-composed landscape.
You don't see any people in the photo above, but there are at least 200 in the building in the background and behind me.
These cafes in Vietnam are definitely not accessible to physically handicapped people, of which there are a high percentage in Vietnam. There are multiple levels on the ground floor, accessible itself up a flight of stairs at the entry, and two floors above that without an elevator.
This is such a civilized way to enjoy the company of people and see and be seen by people. This is my favorite aspect of life in Viet Nam. Thanks to my friend Toàn for introducing me to this cafe as well as many others I have enjoyed in HCMC.
