Traditional · Hanoi
Cà Phê Giảng
Where cà phê trứng came from — and still the reference version against which every other egg coffee in Hanoi is judged.
Why it matters
Egg coffee is generally attributed to Nguyễn Văn Giảng, a bartender at what is now the Sofitel Legend Metropole, who is said to have whipped egg yolk in place of the fresh milk that was scarce in Hanoi in 1946. This is the café he opened, and it is still run by his family.
The account is well established in family and press sources. It rests on little contemporary documentation, which is worth knowing before repeating it as settled fact — see the egg coffee recipe for how we phrase it.
Finding it
The entrance is a narrow alley, not a shopfront. Walk down it; the café opens out at the back and upstairs. It is small, usually full, and does not look like much from the street — which is most of the appeal.
What to order
The egg coffee, hot, served standing in a bowl of hot water. That bowl is not decoration: the drink is small and cools fast, and the foam firms up unpleasantly when it does.
They serve the rest of the standard menu, but nobody comes for the đen đá.
Where these details came from
Figures on this page come from the following. Where a claim is an estimate or a common description rather than a measurement, the text says so.
- Cafe Giang Hanoi, the home of original egg coffeeCoffeehan · accessed 2026-09-12Address at 39 Nguyễn Hữu Huân, the 1946 origin of egg coffee, and the move from 7 Hàng Gai after 1955.
- Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) — The Most Iconic Hanoi DrinkLa Mejor Hotel travel guide · accessed 2026-09-12Opening hours of roughly 07:00–22:00 daily, and the attribution to Nguyễn Văn Giảng as a bartender at what is now the Metropole.
