KUMHO ASIANA PLAZA
39 Le Duan St.
District 1
*****
CONFESSION TIME
It has been more than seven months now that I have been eating, writing about eating, and taking photos of eating – all about Saigon Street Food. And, it is with that history here at Eating Saigon! that I have tried to establish my legitimacy as someone who truly knows and loves Saigon Street Food.
The north of another Eating Saigon! blog at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
So now it is my hope that I won’t threaten my credentials as a Saigon Street Food aficionado when I make the following confession here for the first time.
…drum roll please …
The fact is, that I spend more time in one Saigon eatery than any other in the city. And it’s NOT a street food vendor. And it’s NOT even a Vietnamese restaurant! WHAT!?
It is a western-chain establishment! ! … Gasp …
OH, SUCH BETRAYAL! … LYNCH HIM!
WAIT, PLEASE. Let me try to explain.
Well, you see, when one spends hours pounding on the keyboard, and more hours tirelessly waiting for an excruciating slow internet connection to upload photos to your website (all in the sweltering heat of your Saigon apartment), well one can get weak in character and need to seek outside support to try to maintain one’s stamina. And that support must come in three critical forms:
- a high-speed internet connection,
- a strong air conditioner, and (perhaps most important),
- an excellent cup of cappuccino.
That’s where Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf here in Saigon comes in!
Relaxing, air-conditioned, WiFi’d, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
And that’s where you’ll find me many days (actually most days) of the week pouring my soul into Eating Saigon! on my laptopand sipping my nonfat cappuccino from a well-insulated paper cup.
Now, I know if I were a purist, I would balance my laptop on my knees as I slurped a duck embryo from its shell on a street corner in Saigon’s District 10. Or, I would sit on a small red plastic stool on the street sipping my iced Vietnamese coffee just outside a 5-Star District 1 Saigon hotel and hope I could pick up their WiFi signal strong enough to upload my photos for my afternoon blog. But you see, I really need BOTH hands to manage eating that duck embryo and do fear getting the embryo parts on my keyboard. And now those greedy 5 star hotels password-lock their WiFi connections (although, last I tried, the Rex Hotel did not require a password!!!). So, what am I to do?
The coffees, and especially the cappuccinos at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are just plain excellent. Right up there with the best coffees one can find in Berkeley or Seattle! The seating is comfortable. The air-conditioning is great. And the WiFi is fast. Wonderful!
And then there are the expresso biscotti, the chocolate cupcakes, and all the other sweet treats. All amazing! All over-the-top life experiences!
Sweet treats at Coffee Bean
So, there you have it. I have that off my chest. I hope Eating Saigon! readers can forgive my Saigon Street Food betrayal. Please try to understand.
And than you Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf not only for your excellent coffees and desserts, but also for your support in helping me create this blog everyday.
Can’t talk now … gotta go 🙂
And now I must end here … I cannot stand any longer just staring at that chocolate cupcake.
Coffee on the Patio
- KUMHO ASIANA PLAZA 39 Le Duan St. District 1 , HCMC Phone: 848 3824 4903 ; Fax: 848 3824 1385 [UPDATE – February, 2023: Still, a great “Western” cappuccino here .. but seems the name of the Plaza has changed!]
- 94 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St. District 3, HCMC Phone: 848 38257 615; Fax: 848 38257616
- 12-14 Thai Van Lung St. District 1, HCMC Phone: 08.38228886 Fax: 08. 38228468
UPDATE: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has opened many cafes here in Saigon! To find current locations throughout Saigon, click here: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s Saigon locations and select “Vietnam” in the search box.
View Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Saigon in a larger map