Coffee Culture Series

Project Description: I collaborated with 10+ local cafes in Ho Chi Minh City to review their latest drink innovations. My articles are posted on my personal food blog, along with the cafe's Instagram and Facebook page.

☕️ Cold Brew Milktea: A much stronger taste than a regular milk tea cup. The fun part is that you get to filter your own cup of tea like a professional, to watch the boba soaked in and the black sugar dissolve.

🍮 Creme brûlée pudding: basic cream brûlée pudding to pair with your tea as a set. The fun part is that you get to toast them on your own. Don’t burn down the place.

🥟Basic Dumpling Set: A basic set of 4 steamed shrimp dumplings, and 2 salted egg custards to pair with your tea.

As a contemporary tea place with a bold choice of not selling coffee at all, Milky Bae really tried hard on their signature self-serve boba. From the well-labeled glass bottle, the taste, the freedom of customization, and the pairing of desserts, everything delivers an original and distinctive taste of the place. Milky Bae really won over our hearts with their wide variety of products, offering real-tea drinkers their bitterness and strength, while satisfying fake-tea drinkers such as myself with sweetness and boba. While the place might be too small for nice pictures and good views, the modern-day decor and quietness really make an ideal workspace. Build your own Bubble Tea at Milky Bae.

☕️ Palm Sugar Macchiato: House special, not your regular caramel macchiato since the basic Vietnamese ingredient of Sugar cane juice is added for sweetening. Smelled so strong of arabica and is topped with floating cloudy milk foam that will totally melt your heart. Very worth writing home and coming back to.

🍵 Matcha Latte: Among all the matcha lattes I have tasted, Sugar is the first to add herbal herbs, which results in fascinating tastes to remember. While this is not a house special, strongly you to try it if you ever visit.

🥐 Chocolate croissant: It tastes the way it sounds, with melted chocolate sauce inside a puffy warm croissant.

Overall, Sugar is a head-to-toe European bakery that offers all kinds of pastries for your needs. While maintaining original tastes through chocolate croissants, and quiches, there are also creative Asian fusions such as the infamous Banh Mi Viet Nam Patecho. With the signature, Saigon’s busy street outside their balcony, colorful sofas, artistically shaped mirrors, metallic plates, and bamboo stick silverware, Sugar is simply an Instagramable scene from Rear Window. While their drinks are not so exquisite and have somewhat of neutral tastes, matched surprisingly well with the brave creativity of the pastry. Not so many places in town deliver the right pastry and birthday cake services, totally recommend at least one visit.

☕️ Iced egg yolk latte: My current go-to type of latte, while it is Hanoi inspired, Devaux created such a unique taste using both sweetener and almond milk. Sweetener is minimized enough so that you can taste the milky fatty yolk. Above all the egg lattes I have tasted, this is certainly not the best but is a reason to revisit Devaux. 

🍹 Raspberry Affogato: House special, very Instagramable but simply just raspberry smoothies well decorated, not so much to write home to.

🍱 Atlantic Salmon toast: Similar to the Egg Atlantic you ordered from Godmother Bakes and Brunch, but with a different type of bread. The taste is not the same as no hollandaise sauce or any type of dressing is added. Strongly recommend some red vinegar to avoid dropping the plate. 

🥘 Duck drumsticks waffles: This is a brunch specialty that could be found on any brunch place menu. Was not something I ordered and the taste was not what my brunch companion expected. 

Overall, brunch places really got into competition when it comes to drinking because brunch dishes are kinda universal. Devaux did put some high-quality beverages on the table, with Instagrammable decorations such as double cups, silverware, and reusable straws. As for the food, the tastes are not so spectacular, very suitable for a quick lunch but not much for a gossip spree. The view of the place is worth mentioning, their French balcony will give you a different perspective on Saigon. Well, Devaux is a good introduction to brunch but not so worth coming back to, shall I say.

☕️ Cloud macchiato: the typical caramel macchiato you have at other places, with a Midas touch of cloudy foam on top. Not as sweet as expected, due to the use of caramel itself and no sugar on the side. 

☕️The dreamer latte: House special, different from most lattes you have tasted, and can not be compared. There is a light sweetness, follow by the extreme bitterness of two giant espresso balls on the top. Recommend drinking once the balls melted and the senses blended.

🥐 Creamer dipped croissant: The typical bánh mì chấm sữa you would not know if you haven’t lived in Saigon. 

Overall, Saigon is the land of cafes, and Thinker and Dreamer is probably something you would have heard of if you are in town or know people in town. There are two of these and I prefer the one on Le Loi. The view is no picture captured in most of the posts, but the owner’s reputation really explained why this cafe is that famous. However, the drinks and theme matched one another perfectly. While this is somewhere you might not revisit ever again, it’s worth crashing by once you are in Saigon.

🍔 Double shrimp burger: A basic hamburger with an unforgettable taste of honey-dipped shrimp. 

🍔 Basic chicken burger: Similar to all the possible chicken burgers you have tasted. While it is nothing special, it makes the place suitable for a quick lunch. 

🍝 Basic Bolognese pasta with a way too watery sauce. Definitely not worth writing home to, but kinda give a fair comparison about the place as a whole. 

Overall, “mom-and-pop” American diners are extremely rare in such a town, which makes Goodmen much more special and relieving during the rainy day when you want to sit inside and enjoy a bit of comfort food. While the atmosphere was not typical 90s Riverdale diner as expected, the space is enough for you to enjoy the town and dine. As I’m not too experienced with the roads of Hải Phong, it was my luck to find this place to satisfy my craving for fries and burgers. Thank you to the one and only Thanh Huyen Nguyen for the recommendation 🙂