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Saturday, February 25, 2023

Little Hanoi Egg Coffee @ Ho Chi Minh City District 1 [Vietnam]

I enjoyed coffee and it's a necessity to have at least one cup daily unless I was unwell. 

Hence, I was looking forward to having a special egg coffee from a quaint little cafe hidden along a small alley that despite being meters from the main road; still appeared to portray an image of relaxation. 

Known as Little Hanoi, as egg coffee was more the specialty of Vietnam's capital, the interior design of the cafe reminded me of a traditional eatery maybe in one of the Scandinavian countries.

The decorations would pull you back to Vietnam though; the photos on the wall, images of the Vietnam flag (a golden star over a red background), the nón lá (leaf hat) of the Vietnamese people etc.

Second floor was even cozier; with tons of books, I would have mistaken this to be a library. There were travel guidebooks and I guess it can be helpful if you are in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for an extended period of time and would like to explore surrounding cities or Southeast Asian countries.

View of first floor from second floor. 
Wooden fence was quite short though.

Back to the ground floor again; there's a table for large groups. I let my friends to do the ordering since we would be having dinner after Little Hanoi, and I was expecting just egg coffee and maybe a slice of cake or something. But I was with the Great Kon and there's no such thing as a light meal, even for teatime. 

Tea
- a cup of tea was served for free!
Tasted normal with a tinge of cinnamon.

Salmon Avocado Toast - bestseller for the cafe, it had avocado, scrambled egg, smoked salmon, cheese and whole wheat bread. You can find this healthy meal in Singapore but it's something I wouldn't order since I don't quite enjoy smoked salmon.

It was the avocado that took me by surprise; I never had avocado this way as it was delicious as a juice! The avocado added creaminess to the toast, with a light, nutty sweetness, and the texture totally complemented the scrambled egg. Salmon was also just sparsely smoked and wasn't as salty as I assumed it would be. I love this! 

Cheese Toast with Smoked Bacon - it seriously needed a makeover for its plating as I would have assumed I am eating toast with not much filling.

Not bad in my opinion but the bacon was overly hard and chewy; not recommended for the older generation. The salmon avocado toast would be a much better option.

Egg Coffee - finally, the signature egg coffee! In the event whereby you prefer traditional Vietnamese coffee, the option would still be available, together with a selection of tea, fruit juice etc. 

Instruction on how to drink egg coffee!

I followed exactly and the first two things that came to mind were the thick fluffiness of the egg froth and the intense egginess; latter of which might be a tad too overwhelming for some. It's an interesting drink and even though I love eggs; it was cloying after I went through half the cup.

I don't feel like I am drinking coffee as the egg flavor totally overtook the coffee. There were touches of bitterness due to the coffee but I would be happier with just traditional Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.

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Address
119/5 Đ. Yersin, Phường Phạm Ngũ Lão, 
Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Map
As above. 

Operating Hours
8.00 am to 10.00 pm

Website

Menu
As above.

Pricing
Salmon Avocado Toast - 120,000 Dong
Cheese Toast - 80,000 Dong 
Added Smoked Bacon - 50,000 Dong
Egg Coffee - 40,000 Dong
(Inclusive of VAT)

Additional Information
So nice of the operator; you can get free cookies, free water for filling your bottle and even free raincoats if it happens to start raining when you are leaving! Feeling 💕


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