Chapter 1
The stairway in the alley
No flashy facade — just a hanging wooden sign under string lights in the alley at 136 Lê Thánh Tôn, and a stairway up to a dark room. STIR is found on foot, never in passing.
The story
A stairway up to Asia's list
A minimalist room in a Bến Thành alley, where Vietnamese street drinks made it onto Asia's cocktail ranking.
Chapter 2
No. 61 in Asia — and Vietnam's only entry
In 2025 STIR ranked No. 61 on Asia's 50 Best Bars — the only Vietnamese bar on the list. Not through spectacle, but through a menu written entirely in Vietnamese, drawing on the sugarcane cart, the dessert vendor, the sidewalk coffee.
Chapter 3
The hand of Thép Đinh
Co-founder Thép Đinh won Diageo World Class Vietnam 2019. His philosophy is simple: exacting technique, Vietnamese ingredients, not one wasted motion — the Nước Mía Highball, with sugarcane, Zacapa 12, calamansi and pandan, is the clearest proof.