The Workshop Coffee

The Workshop is a specialty coffee café in central Ho Chi Minh City that appeals to coffee enthusiasts. It is upstairs at 27 Ngo Duc Ke Street, just off Dong Khoi Street in District 1, and reached by a rather rickety staircase, which adds to the sense of discovery.

At the top you find a bright, loft-like room in a heritage building, with tall windows, wooden beams and plenty of natural light. The Rusty Compass guide to Saigon's cafés describes it as a serious coffee place, and Vietnam Airlines' guide highlights its V60 pour-over.

Prices are at the upper end for coffee in the city, but still modest by international standards, and the quality reflects the care taken. The café suits solo travellers, couples, remote workers looking for a calm place to sit with a laptop for an hour or two, and anyone curious about Vietnamese specialty coffee. It is less suited to visitors with limited mobility, because of the stairs.

If you are new to pour-over, it is worth ordering one alongside a more familiar espresso drink to compare the two. A visit of 45 minutes to an hour is usually enough, though many regulars stay longer. The café works well as a mid-morning break on a walking tour of District 1, before the heat of the middle of the day, or as a calm place to plan the rest of your trip.

A few practical points apply to most independent cafés in the city. Opening hours are not always published and can change, so check the café's social media before making a special trip. Payment by card or QR code is increasingly common, but carrying some small notes in Vietnamese dong is sensible. Air conditioning, Wi-Fi and seating vary from place to place, and the quietest times are usually mid-morning and mid-afternoon on weekdays, outside the lunch hour and the after-work rush.

The café is a few steps from Dong Khoi Street, so it fits easily into a walk between Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Opera House and the riverfront. Nguyen Hue Walking Street is also a short walk away.