The Cafe Apartment: the most 'instagrammable' building in Ho Chi Minh
An American officer smokes one last cigarette before leaving Vietnam . In turn, another awaits the arrival of a local lover to help him forget the tensions of war. And there, on the first floor, a woman makes a noodle soup in a saucepan while a shipyard counts the hours to go back to sea. These characters and their stories once belonged to a nine-story old building located at 42 Nguyen Hue , a street in the center of hochiminh turned today into one of the most frenetic places in vietnam.
Built in the early 60's to house all the officers of the Vietnam War, this building came to house different shipyard workers for part of the 70s until the transformation of central Ho Chi Minh reversed history . It would take years, even decades, for someone to come up with place a lantern and prepare a coffee for one of your customers . That's how he was born The Cafe Apartment.
The Cafe Apartment: the most 'instagrammable' building in Ho Chi Minh
Open from 8 in the morning until 10 at night , this complex began its timid journey on Instagram to become the perfect reflection of the recent history of the city . Businesses and premises that, for the most part, represent an ode to the coffee culture hidden under a mosaic of lights that represents the charm of that Vietnam that we came to look for.
VIETNAM IN A BUILDING
When you arrive in Nguyen Hue and stand in front of The Cafe Apartment, you see that there are other “instagrammers” around you. However, few of them get to enter this coffee mecca with an attractive wrapper and an even creamier heart . After staying with that favorite terrace and locating it on your orientation map, you cross the door of number 42 until you run into an elevator whose use costs 3,000 vnd (about 0.12 euros reimbursable on the bill of any local). Otherwise, you can always take the stairs to better soak up the atmosphere of the building.
On the first floor, Chan Chan It is presented as a store sustainable fashion with designs straddling the eastern and the western. "Here we make all products with natural fabrics," one of its employees tells Traveler.es, "But above all we want people to consume new designs at affordable prices without having to resort to imitations, which is one of the most common forms of consumption in this city”.
Sustainable fashion at The E.Y.E Saigon
After perusing Chan Chan's designs and personalized t-shirts from The E.Y.E ., on the second floor you discover the beauty salon BeautySecret, or Saigon Vieux, where all the typical Vietnamese coffees come together (from the delicious coconut coffee to the egg coffee -with hollow yolk included-). And there, almost touching the third floor, vietnamese hipsters mingle with curious tourists and women under the typical conical hat non la that arrive loaded with rambutans and papayas.
On the fourth floor, the tea games discover the vintage charm of patisserie partea , while in Thinker & Dreamer its owner stirs the phin, a typical utensil for stirring coffee. A place that invites you to take a look at a Saigon that, from this balcony, seems to vibrate more than any other city in the world.
Cuqui, recuqui
The bathtub flooded with flowers Saigon Oi Cafe , on the fifth floor; the pho steaming from letter , sixth floor highlight; a seventh where local youths come to try on Men in Blue jeans ; try a tea with clouds (literal) in boo coffee , in the eighth; and go up to the terrace that it also has on the ninth floor.
Only after finishing the ascent, do you check that The Café Apartment in a haven of stories and trends become the main lung of the Vietnam to come.
Although his future is not entirely promising.
coffee in the clouds
COFFEE WITH COCONUT (AND SOME UNCERTAINTY)
One of the premises that does not have the solera of the famous facade, gourmand , is located on a seventh floor where Jessie, a most friendly Vietnamese lady , prepare fruit juices. When she enters, she offers you a strawberry one and prepares a small table for you on her narrow balcony. “There is more current here” , she says in slow English. At 5 pm there are no people in the cafeteria and Jessie wants to talk.
The Apartment Café or the Vietnam stories building
“When the war ended, the last owners rushed to rent their apartments due to the transformation of this street,” says Jessie. “That is why there are so many establishments, Although it was really an illegal practice, since according to the authorities this building was built to house apartments, not coffee shops . In fact, most of us live in our own premises and from time to time there are threats of eviction , so we don't know how long we'll be here."
After a long silence, Jessie makes herself a coconut coffee and sits at the table. She doesn't know when the changes will come to this ephemeral soul building, but she keeps sipping. Talking. Promoting the great power that characterizes the imprint of The Cafe Apartment: that of continuing to host hundreds of stories.
The Apartment Café or the Vietnam stories building
Address: 42 Nguyen Hue, Ho Chi Minh See map