I’ll never forget the first time I tried a sweetened, iced Vietnamese coffee, or cà phê sữa dá: I was subletting a room with my friend Elizabeth one muggy summer in Athens, Ga. — every summer is muggy in Athens — and she had just returned from a study abroad trip to Southeast Asia. She brought back a new obsession with Vietnamese coffee, which she passed on to me.
Since then, I’ve had a real taste for cà phê culture. As someone who used to make coffee in a moka pot every day, I appreciate the ritual of preparing a really good cup of Vietnamese coffee, which traditionally involves pouring very hot water over ground coffee, drip-style, through a phin filtering device. But then again, traditions are meant to be flipped on their heads.
Pandan, many ways
The first coffee shop in New York to catch my interest was Lê Phin, a small cafe in the East Village. This is the place to go if you want to watch a classic cà phê come together in real time. (The less tradition-oriented might go for Lê Phin’s incredible pandan latte, made with espresso rather than drip.)
But I also realize that you subscribe to this newsletter for food recommendations. And no one is doing Vietnamese coffee plus food (mostly desserts) like Bánh by Lauren. Lauren Tran, the shop’s co-owner, has a fascinating story, having gone from making pastries at Gramercy Tavern, to unemployed at the height of the pandemic, to creating a perpetually sold-out bakery pop-up. (My colleague Amanda Choy produced a short documentary about Lauren and her pop-up that you can watch here.)
Luckily for all of us, Bánh by Lauren is now a proper brick-and-mortar in the heart of Chinatown (and dangerously close to Golden Diner if you’re looking for a pre- or post-meal treat). I stopped by early on a Sunday morning and ordered one of everything: chiffon cakes by the slice, three types of macarons, coffee cake, bánh bò (honeycomb cake), bånh khoai mi nuóng (cassava cake), a scone and a chocolate chip cookie. Oh, and a Vietnamese coffee, which they make with espresso rather than drip coffee for a final product that’s much bolder to counteract the sweetness of the condensed milk.
Lauren masterly combines French pastry techniques with the flavors of Southeast Asia, especially pandan, the aromatic, grassy plant that is a staple of cooking in the region: The macaron flavors include pandan buttercream and red oolong ganache; the eye-catching chiffon cakes are tinged with pandan, Vietnamese coffee and Thai tea; and the coffee cake, my favorite, is also bright green with pandan.
For now, the shop is open Thursday through Sunday, and I highly recommend arriving on the earlier side so you can have your pick of pastries.
Lê Phin, 259 East 10th Street (First Avenue)
Bánh by Lauren, 42 Market Street (Madison Street)
Come for the coffee, stay for the pop-ups
Manhattan, of course, doesn’t have a corner on the market. If you find yourself in East Williamsburg, poke your head into Larry’s Cà Phê. The coffee shop is an ode to Larry Hilton, a Bushwick schoolteacher who died in 2019, operated by his adopted, Vietnam-born son Tuan Nguyen. Tuan, who kindly explained the differences between all the different cà phês to me, serves a tight menu of drinks, including cà phê dừa, or Vietnamese iced coffee with coconut milk. But on another recent visit, the shop won me over with the cà phê muối, made with cold brew and salted caramel, as well as a concoction with matcha foam over cooling coconut water that I ordered by mistake and then couldn’t put down.
Larry’s also regularly features incredible Vietnamese pop-ups: They recently hosted Ăn Xôi, which usually specializes in sticky rice, but this time was serving bánh đúc khoai môn, or taro rice cakes with fish sauce and salted coconut cream. All summer, Cindy Cao, a local baker, is filling their pastry display with treats like yuzu madeleines and matcha pandan cookies. And this upcoming weekend (July 27 and 28) there will be a pop-up from the fledgling Cafe Kibo. So, if you’re craving an ube coconut cream with coffee jelly or a passionfruit matcha tonic, definitely drop by. Or you can just stick to the time-tested, always delicious, never-gonna-let-you-down cà phê sữa dá.
Larry’s Cà Phê, 135 Woodpoint Road (Withers Street)
Honorable Mentions
Here are two other Vietnamese coffee operations worth checking out:
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CàPhê Đen (134-16 36th Road S2, Flushing, Queens): Order any one of their absolutely giant iced Vietnamese coffees, but most especially the attractive and sweetly earthy ube cream coffee.
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Kinhfolk: One of the best Vietnamese coffees I’ve ever had came from a Kinhfolk pop-up, but they can be hard to pin down (follow them on Instagram to catch the next one). The good news: They’re working on a permanent storefront in East Willamsburg.
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