Tiệm cà phê EM Ở ĐÂU — the ten-degrees-cooler alley in District 1
An alley barely one arm wide, ending in a house ten degrees cooler than the street. Tiệm cà phê EM Ở ĐÂU — step in and feel the cool, stay and feel the ache.
the way into the house
Follow the hand-painted sign
54/2 Nguyễn Cư Trinh has no neon. Just a hand-painted sign reading EM Ở ĐÂU · DOMINO · GIRAFFE — one gate for all four. Find the sign and you find all four “people of the house”: the café, the homestay, the LĂNG XĂNG secondhand market, and the Giraffe (Hươu Cao Cổ) book library.
The entrance is a garden
Enter the alley and you duck through a tunnel of green plants — the shop's “cooling gate”. Before you reach the door you smell leaves, then earth, then coffee. Locals say it runs ten degrees cooler than the street; really, the tunnel tells you in advance: leave the sun out there.
Shoes off, come in
Before the glass door sits the shoe rack and the green-and-white checker tiles — the house ritual. Shoes off, slippers on, step into the world of cats, books, and old music. The chalkboard has one more note: “Please park at the Trần Hữu Trang theatre for us!” — park out there, the shop covers your parking.
Three rooms, three breaths
Each corner its own breath: the old-music ground floor for the nostalgic · the Reading Room — Giraffe library for bookworms · the courtyard balcony for workshops and small groups. Three rooms, about 50 seats — and cats visit every corner.
Ground floor — Old music
String curtains, Edison bulbs, floral tiles. For those who want absolute quiet.
Reading Room
The Giraffe book library. Read, study, watch the cats.
The courtyard
Mustard-yellow stools, bamboo fence, planters. The hiding place from the world outside.
visit
Come over to the house
54/2 Nguyễn Cư Trinh, Bến Thành, Hồ Chí Minh
Roughly 7:00 – 22:00 daily (unverified)
