Cafes Part 1

Since the importation of coffee from the French during the colonization of Vietnam, Vietnam has been known for the coffee. Since my arrival, that has been one of the most impressive things about Vietnam. There is literally 3-4 coffee shops on every block of every street. Even in the country side, there were coffee shops along the country roads. And almost every one of them has customers, ranging from one or two to the whole place being filled. And this is at every hour. There are customers at 8 in the morning, mid morning on a work day, noon lunch time, afternoon and late evening. The one thing I never had to worry about since being here is not finding a place to have Vietnamese coffee. 

The coffee shop styles ranges from open coffee shop where it's open to the streets, and these are usually older folks street watching or chit chatting. 

This one is from Cafe Mocda, which I stumbled upon while getting lost in Hoi An. It is a very classic country side cafe with open air, no lights on during the day and no menu. Being the second day in Vietnam, I was only able to communicate coffee to the owner, but the coffee was good!

This is Cafe Suã dá, which is made with sweetened condensed milk. Dá means iced. Of course, this name I learned later in the next week after pouring over many menus. 

Cafe Velo is a different type of cafe. It is a bookcafe, which means it is closed to the outside traffic and is very quiet inside. This one is located on the busy street of Quang Trung near Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. 

The inside is very cutely decorated, and is usually littered with students studying and chatting. It is not really quiet like a library, but is free from the noise from the streets. 

This type of cafe usually have a menu and usually have a few snack foods. My favorite is the Oi xi something something (I forgot the name... -___-), which is guava with dried prunes in prune juice. That is the one in the back there. The left is Bap Xao, which is corn kernels stir fried with scallion and dried shrimp with a side of the orange sweet chili sauce (more on that later). The right is Mi Truong, which I could not figure out what it was and just ordered it... Turns out it's instant ramen! With a sunny side egg on top too. 

Their drink choices comes with coffee, fruit juice, tea, soda or yogurt. The left is Saigon Coffee with sweetened condensed milk. The portion size is a bit disappointing! The left is the delicious Bac Xíu, which I think has milk in addition to the sweetens condensed milk or just extras of it... 

This is when we tried the fruit juices. The left is the Ép dúa, which is pineapple. The right is ép tâo, which is apple. It is actually a mix of some fruit purée with sweetened water?

This is another adventure where I decided to try something I could not figure out off the menu, so I ordered the yogurt hôp, which is actually just regular plain yogurt (see above left)... And I can never get over how sweet Vietnamese like their foods... That yogurt was definitely mostly sweet with a hint of sour! And the middle is yoaurt xòai, which is mango yogurt drink. And then bac xíu again. :) 

And this is the cafe where I found dragon ball z in Vietnamese!

Alright, more coffee houses to come. There are too many for me to list in one post, so I will wrap up about this orange chili sauce. 

It is the orange stuff next to the corn. I will later add the pictures where it was served with the chicken at KFC, the Hong Kong style roasted duck, the fish balls, and a million other places. It is a bit sweet and tangy sauce with a hint of spice. I fully plan on purchasing a bottle prior to my departure from Vietnam, though this is contingent upon if I can actually find a place that sells it...