As chilling wind blows through Hanoi streets, it’s the time for Hanoi’s drink connoisseurs to enjoy a cup of rich flavor piping hot drink – the “cà phê trứng” or egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty that nowhere else in the world could be found.
Café Dinh & Café Giang
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Café Giang. Photo: Elly Duong |
Talking about the best places in town for egg coffee, Hanoian diners are mostly familiar with two coffee shops which are Café Dinh (in Dinh Tien Hoang street) and Café Giang (in Nguyen Huu Huan street).
Located on the second floor of a humble two-story house on the north side of Hoan Kiem Lake, Café Dinh is not the prettiest cafe, but it serves egg coffee in its most authentic flavor.
A cup of hot egg coffee comes resting in a small bowl of hot water to maintain its temperature. The strong coffee flavor at the bottom of the cup when filtered through the light yellow creamy soft egg foam on top becomes quite thick and sweet.
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Café Dinh |
Café Dinh belongs to a family business which is Café Giang. Café Dinh was founded by the oldest son of Mr. Giang, a former Metropole Hotel’s bartender who invented egg coffee in 1946, while Café Giang is run by another son.
Made from the same ingredients of egg yolk, condensed milk and coffee powder but each coffee shop has its own concoction for their drinks. Today, egg coffee becomes almost a symbol of Hanoi and something every first-time visitor to the city must try.
Café Lam
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Café Lam. Photo: Minh Tri |
Located in Nguyen Huu Huan street, which is a popular tourist area, Café Lam is known as one of the three oldest coffee-shops in town. It’s famous for a signature pleasant, complimenting taste of roasted coffee.
Yolk egg was machine-whisked at high speed, then poured over an extremely hot filtered coffee liquor to make a cheap but unique drink, priced at VND25,000 (US$1.07) or just one dollar.
The coffee shop features a nostalgic ambient with tiny wooden chairs and tables and a precious painting collection by Vietnamese famous painters hanging around the walls to entertain clients. Café Lam opens its door from 7am to 11pm daily.
Yen Café
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Yen Café. Photo: Ngoc Ha |
Set on a gorgeous little space in an alley of Quan Thanh street, Ba Dinh district, Yen Café is a perfect place for those who want to escape the noise and chaos of city life. The coffee shop owns a particular recipe to create egg coffee. The cafeteria uses on-the-spot roasted Arabica coffee bean from Dalat to make its delicious egg coffee. The drink has creamy balanced sweet flavor without any fishy taste of raw egg yolk.
Besides egg coffee, Yen Café also serves some Hanoian traditional snacks such as young sticky rice cakes and husband-and-wife or “phu the” cake. The cafeteria opens from 7.30am to 5pm. The price is about VND35,000 – VND45,000 (US$1.5-US$1.9) for a cup of egg coffee or a snack.
Lutulata
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Lutulata. Photo: Ngoc Ha |
Located on Hoang Ngoc Phach street of Dong Da district, Lutulata is also serving a worth-for-a try egg coffee in Hanoi. Compared to above listed coffee shops, the taste of egg coffee in Lutulata is not really outstanding, but it scores points for a candle underneath each cup that helps keep the coffee hot longer.
Opening hours are from 7am to 11pm daily. The price is around VND40,000 (US$1.7) for a cup of coffee or a portion of Vietnamese traditional sweet dessert – one among a variety of snacks favored by girls.
Blackbird
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Blackbird. Photo: Ngoc Ha |
From Hanoi’s Old Quarter area, visitor could take a walk down to Chan Cam street for a wonderful cup of egg coffee at Blackbird cafeteria.
The “Eggpresso” egg coffee, as its name referred, is made from yolk egg and Vietnamese Espresso coffee. The drink features an aromatic strong coffee flavor underneath a layer of thick tiramisu-like liquid that is extremely suitable for a chilly early winter. The average price of a cup of coffee is VND65,000 (US$2.8).
