Banksy Studio Cafe’
1st Floor, Old Apartment Building
14 Tôn Thất Đạm
District 1
0169 999 0003
*****
No place in Saigon could be further from the classic verdant rice paddy image of Vietnam than the Banksy Studio Cafe’.
I mean, Was I in Sojo, New York City, 1970? Was I in the Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, 1972?
NO, in fact, as bazaar as it seemed, I was in Saigon, 2015!
Ah??? Excuse me, is this the way to the Banksy Coffee Shop?
Just a few steps from Saigon tourist central, between the newly designed Saigon River pedestrian walkway and busy Hàm Nghi street in District 1, I pulled up in front of an old rundown apartment building. The security guard looked at me, clearly surprised, and demanded to know why I was there. Oh, had I stumbled upon the headquarters of the Saigon secret police?!
“For the coffee shop,” I answered confidently – even though I had grave doubts that I had found the correct building. He raised his eyebrows, waived me in, and pointed to the motorbike parking area at the back of a long dimly lit driveway passing under the building. Well, that wasn’t so bad after all.
Absolutely no signage, anywhere. But, there was only one stairwell heading up … so this must be it. Dark, littered, graffiti-covered, and well, a bit scary. Not your usual Saigon cafe entrance.
I began my ascent.
Tattoo? No, no thank you. Trying to find the cafe.
Just a few steps up, I encountered a middle-aged woman coming down the stairwell. She looked at me a bit puzzled (probably exactly what she was thinking about me, as well). “Can I help you?,” she asked
Wow! She speaks English. “Yes, please, I’m looking for the coffee shop.”
“Oh, yes, right up here” she pointed to the first floor landing, and smiled.
“Cảm ơn nhiều.” (Thank you, thank you.) Ah, there’s the cafe entrance door!
But now I was curious – I wanted to explore a bit more, peeking around corners, walking down dingy foreboding hallways, and climbing more stairs. As I became more comfortable with my surroundings, I realized, in fact, the place was kind of trendy – in a tenement-slum-gone-boutique-kind-of-way.
There was the Things Cafe’.
A surprise “pocket-view” of Saigon’s Bitexco Tower on the way to the Things Cafe!
Down the hall, through a stack of boxes, around the turn, and across the gangplank – with a surprise view of Vietnam’s tallest skyscraper!
And a few more pleasant surprises …
A small fashion boutique!
A competing coffee shop
And another.
… and yet another!
Some more “fashion” options
Okay, okay … I see, very trendy. Now where’s my coffee!
Stepping inside the Banksy Studio Cafe’ was, well in words from another era, “very cool”!
Funky 70’s “New York”ambiance in the dimly lit Banksy coffee shop.
Dimly lit, high ceilings, big windows, funky, ladders, bold signs, friendly and attractive English-speaking young female bartender, and very authentic handmade Vietnamese cement tiles everywhere! (Read about my fascination with Vietnamese cement tiles here.)
Beautiful and random handmade Vietnamese cement tiles
… even the bathroom had handmade tiles!
And the coffee … really great!
Great coffee … poor lighting :-/
I spent the rest of the morning catching up on email, enjoying several coffees, and vowing to return with my good friend, Danh, whom I was certain would find this place a bit alien, but hopefully, fun.
So, two days later, I did, we did! Danh and I re-entered Sojo, Saigon.
Danh, only slightly bewildered by the whole scene, tried a blended iced-coffee drink. I branched out from my coffee fixation to enjoy a really refreshing Italian Soda!
Excellent Italian Soda!
So, if you’re in Saigon, need caffeine, want a change from coffee shops with bamboo gardens, twinkle lights, and sappy love ballads … and don’t mind a “tenement-slum” ambiance, you might really enjoy discovering the Banksy Studio Cafe’.
Danh was glad he did! Me too 🙂
Danh, enjoying his Saigon frappaccino
OPEN 7 a.m. – 11 p.m. daily
Banksy Studio Cafe’
1st Floor, Old Apartment Building
14 Tôn Thất Đạm
District 1
0169 999 0003