Lão Hạc cafe, Vintage Vietnamese Coffee Shop on the canal.

Hours: 7:00am - 11:00pm

Address: 299b Hoàng Sa, phường Tân Định, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Việt Nam

Sip on a classic Cà phê sữa đá in a charming cafe full of upcycled vintage furniture, in a colonial building with great views on the canal.

🕞 7:00 – 23:30  |  📍 299B Hoàng Sa, Tân Định, Quận 1↵

Find your way to a beautiful and tastefully-arranged old cafe decorated with upcycled furniture in a gorgeous, overgrown villa on the Phú Nhuận canal. Lao hac Quan is usually buzzing with a crowd of hip young Vietnamese and the occasional westerner charmed by the unique interior. This one-of-a-king coffee shop attracts a plethora of characters from all walks of life. The menu has its standard list of traditional Vietnamese coffee, juice, smoothies, beers and snacks.

Related: Check out our full list of charming vintage coffee shops in Saigon

Vietnamese kids use to eat this home-made ice cream before the invasion of Nestle and other entities of globalization in the late 90’s

However, Lao Hac cafe sets itself apart with its infamous Kem chuối ice cream, which is a traditional “pre doi moi” Popsicle. Vietnamese kids use to eat this home-made ice cream before the invasion of Nestle and other entities of globalization in the late ’90’s. The Kem Choi is essentially a flattened banana surrounded by mango strips, sweetened cream and peanuts put in a flat rectangular bag and frozen. Fittingly, this ice cream is as much an antique as the decor of this hip old coffee shop. Go back in time and relax while sipping on some Cà phê sữa đá and try out the Kem Choi. It’s like taking a bite into a delicious piece of Vietnamese history!

For more fantastic coffee shops pop on over to our CAFE section.

Joel Zorrilla

Founder and editor behind streatery.net. Joel has lived and eaten in Saigon for the last 4.5 years and is dedicated to improve the local eating and drinking experience to anyone who stumbles upon his site.