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Best Cafés in Hanoi (2026)

Coffee is central to daily life in Hanoi, and the city's most famous contribution is egg coffee, invented in 1946 by Nguyen Van Giang, a bartender at the Metropole Hotel, when milk was scarce. His family still runs Cafe Giang in an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan Street, and his daughter opened Cafe Dinh, an upstairs room overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake. Cafe Lam, dating from the early 1950s, is hung with paintings that struggling artists once exchanged for coffee and breakfast.

Other cafés are about the setting. Cafe Pho Co is reached through a shop and an old house on Hang Gai Street and has a rooftop terrace facing the lake, and The Note Coffee, beside the lake, is covered in sticky notes left by visitors. For a different style, Habakuk serves single-origin specialty coffee by day and becomes a Michelin Bib Gourmand bistro by night. Many traditional cafés have low stools and upstairs rooms, and some are hidden down alleys that are easy to miss, so look carefully for entrances. Early morning and mid-afternoon are the calmest times, and an egg coffee makes a good break between sights.

6 places · Updated November 12, 2026

Our top 3 cafés in Hanoi

  1. Cafe Giang Egg coffee café, Old QuarterThe family café where egg coffee was invented in 1946, still run by the founder's son in an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan Street in the Old Quarter.
  2. Cafe Dinh Egg coffee café, Hoan KiemA simple second-floor café overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake, opened by the daughter of egg coffee's inventor and known for its hot and iced egg coffee.
  3. Cafe Lam Historic coffee house, Old QuarterA Hanoi coffee house dating from the early 1950s, where the owner once swapped coffee for paintings by struggling artists, whose works still line the walls.

Café

1. Cafe Giang

Egg coffee café$Old Quarter

The family café where egg coffee was invented in 1946, still run by the founder's son in an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan Street in the Old Quarter.

View details — Cafe Giang

Café

2. Cafe Dinh

Egg coffee café$Hoan Kiem

A simple second-floor café overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake, opened by the daughter of egg coffee's inventor and known for its hot and iced egg coffee.

View details — Cafe Dinh

Café

3. Cafe Lam

Historic coffee house$Old Quarter

A Hanoi coffee house dating from the early 1950s, where the owner once swapped coffee for paintings by struggling artists, whose works still line the walls.

View details — Cafe Lam

Café

4. Habakuk

Specialty coffee and bistro$$Hoan Kiem

A specialty coffee shop by day and European bistro by night, hidden in a lane off Phan Huy Chu Street and listed as a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

View details — Habakuk

Café

5. Cafe Pho Co

Rooftop café with lake views$Old Quarter

A café hidden behind a shop on Hang Gai Street, reached through a courtyard and an old house, with a rooftop terrace overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake.

View details — Cafe Pho Co

Café

6. The Note Coffee

Themed café$Hoan Kiem

A three-storey café beside Hoan Kiem Lake whose walls are covered in hundreds of handwritten sticky notes left by customers, from quotes to reflections on life.

View details — The Note Coffee