our story
The Cheo Leo Cafe story — a cloth-filter coffee shop since 1938 in Hem 109
Saigon's oldest surviving cloth-filter coffee shop — clay-fire since 1938.
Cheo Leo opened in 1938, founded by Mr. Vĩnh Ngô — a Huế native of royal descent — when this alley was still a “cheo leo”, precarious patch of wilderness. Today his three daughters run the shop: Ms. Ba Suong, Ms. Tuyet and Ms. Sau — three generations, one flame.
The coffee here is “kho”: filtered through cloth vợt, strained into clay pots, kept hot at the edge of the charcoal clay stove. Cups are rinsed in boiling water before pouring. Watching the three sisters work the stove — rhythmic as a ritual — is the experience every visitor remembers.
The room is a small house: aged plaster walls covered in framed press about the shop, blue-and-white checkered tiles, wall fans, wooden shelves. Plastic stools spill into the alley between parked motorbikes, nhạc vàng drifting from an old speaker. Peak hour is 9 AM — everyone wants a Cheo Leo morning.
- Clay stove + clay pots + cloth filters — one of fewer than five shops in Saigon still brewing this way.
- The founder's three daughters — three generations, one flame, since 1938.
- The framed-clippings wall — an archive of the shop on aged plaster.
- The blue facade, turquoise accordion gates, the clay-pot sign in Hem 109.
- Nhạc vàng, plastic stools, motorbikes along the alley — old Saigon intact.
- Easy prices 20–40k, cash or QR transfer.
1938 Saigon intact in one alley — the place to remember.
Watching vợt brew on the clay stove is the liveliest coffee lesson.
Clay stove, clippings wall, blue alley — every corner tells.
Closes at 18:00 — a morning shop.
Small, quiet room — not for loud big parties.