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Every surface of The Note Coffee’s shop—walls, tables, windows, light fixtures, even the air conditioner box on the windowsill—is covered by sticky notes with messages written by customers. The coffee shop, spread across four floors of a narrow building that is more than thirty years old, feels designed for social media, but switch off the camera for a while to soak in the surroundings. Pick up some notes and a pen and write as many messages as you like, then read the missives written by others, from declarations of love to resolutions to special occasion wishes, in a melange of languages. Grab a table by the windows that overlook Hoàn Kiếm lake and engage in some people-watching, especially on the weekends when the street becomes a pedestrian-only zone filled with sketch artists, street performers, and roadside vendors. The cafe’s signature coconut latte is a great way to beat the heat and a must for coconut lovers.
Cafe Duy Trí
43A P. Yên Phụ
In his book Eating Viet Nam, food writer Graham Holliday writes about his Four Questions Theory of asking Vietnamese where to eat in Vietnam, which sequentially unearths four levels of recommendations, starting off with fancy hotels serving Westernized food, then tourist traps claiming to serve “authentic” food. After some probing come local favorites, and in the final stage, local secrets. Cafe Duy Trí, a 90-year-old coffee shop on Yen Phu Street near Hanoi’s West Lake, feels like the apex level. It is a narrow shop with spartan decor, harsh lighting, and a low ceiling that will give tall people a crick in the neck, but the coffee delivers. Its specialty is iced yogurt coffee, which comes in a tall glass with a rudimentarily drawn cream flower on top. The coffee is thick, like a sundae, with a blend of Arabica and Robusta dripped into a dense layer of yogurt.
Loading T Cafe
8 P. Chân Cầm
Finding Loading T Cafe feels akin to going on a National Treasure-style adventure. It is housed in a crumbling yellow 1930s French colonial mansion in the Old Quarter, half-hidden by foliage with no clear signage, but follow the smell of coffee up the winding staircase to the first floor and you’ll stumble across it. Exposed brick walls, faded flowery tiles, and splat back wooden chairs add to the cafe’s retro vibes. Their coffee menu is extensive, with drinks like banana coffee and lime coffee, and their egg coffee is infused with cinnamon, lending it a distinctive aroma. If you like the cups that your coffee comes in, check out Hiên Vân Ceramics in the same building, which sells ceramics made in Bat Trang Pottery Village, where pottery has been made for more than 700 years.
Philo Garden
11 Ng. 5 P. Từ Hoa
While most of Hanoi’s tourists throng around Hoàn Kiếm lake, it is West Lake, Hanoi’s largest freshwater lake to the north of the city, where hip Hanoians hang out. On the banks of the West Lake is the leafy enclave that is Philo Garden cafe. Red brick walls enclose a tropical jungle retreat of sorts, where garden chairs are scattered around imparting a feel of lounging in someone’s backyard, and there is even a tiny pond on the premises. Pull up a chair in a comfortable nook and check out the menu, which has a selection of great coffees but where tea is a highlight. Try unique variants like mulberry, kumquat, and passionfruit tea, along with the fried eggs with mugwort.
