Coffee shops exist on nearly every street and street corner in Ho Chi Minh City but for me, one coffee shop stood out above the rest: Hi-end Café. Located at 217 Nguyen Van Thu in District 1, I discovered Hi-end Café by accident one evening when I had gone next door to Bros Coffee for dinner.

Bros Coffee is one of those big, impersonal and smoky coffee shops with loud music that tend to proliferate in Ho Chi Minh City but I would go there because there was one thing on their menu that I really liked - the rice with chicken or salted fish cooked in a clay pot. However and on this particular night, they had told me that they had run out of rice. Now for me, an Asian restaurant in Asia that manages to run out of rice is unacceptable. Hence, I got up and left.

Inside Hi-end Café

I then walked a short ways down the street and right by Hi-end Café. I had walked by Hi-end Café a few times without paying much attention because from the outside, it looks like a fairly small and nondescript brick building with a large picture window in front with the words "Hi-end" stenciled on it.

Since I still needed to eat dinner, I decided to give it a try. Once I went inside though, the first thing that I noticed was the massive Altec Lansing Navison Audio Esoteric sound system, a type of sound system that I have never seen or heard before, which took up the whole back wall of the café. However and instead of blasting patrons with peppy and loud rock music as in other coffee shops, this sound system was being used to play music that was soft and gentle to the ears and at times on the romantic side (In fact, I later became a fan of Katie Melua after spending untold evenings in Hi-end Café listening to her music being played in the background).

The next thing I noticed once inside were the pictures of Marilyn Monroe and other old Hollywood stars, along with framed records and pictures of musicians such as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, that adorned the soft brown walls of the cafe. This, along with the candles on the tables, big comfy seats with pillows and the soft music in the background, easily convinced me to stay the rest of the evening.

Ultimately, I would end up spending many evenings and even a few afternoons having coffee or dinner in Hi-end Café - usually as the only foreigner in the place (and certainly I was the only regular foreigner to frequent the place).

As for the other patrons, they were usually a diverse crowd of Vietnamese of all ages and both sexes who, I should note (in case you don't want someone eavesdropping on your conversation!), could probably speak or at least understand spoken English. At some tables, I would see couples while at other tables there would be groups of young Vietnamese guys smoking and playing board games or using their laptops and iPads. In fact, I was often amazed at the number of expensive laptops and iPads that I would see being used on any given evening! Moreover, there also seemed to be a regular crowd as well as I would often see the same faces a couple of time a week.

As for Hi-End Café's menu, don't expect anything spectacular or unique compared with the offerings of other coffee shops in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, non-Vietnamese reading foreigners should also be aware that the English translations (especially the noodle translations) on Hi-end Café's menu are not entirely perfect and you may end up being served something that you did not entirely expect when you ordered!

Moreover, I would usually go to coffee shops in Ho Chi Minh City for a meal and to use the free wifi rather than drink coffee or get an after dinner desert. Hence, I should point out that the food menu at Hi-end is limited to about three pages of mostly noodle dishes (I tended to order the beef with noodles or the Shanghai noodles) that would leave most Westerners still hungry. However, there are several pages worth of coffees, ice cream and yogurt drinks to choose from - making the Hi-end Café the perfect place to stop after dinner for a coffee and a desert.

Hi-end Café is located at 217 Nguyen Van Thu in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City (Phone:+84-(0)8 3824 1004) and its open from 7 am until about 11 am every night. However and do note the place will usually be packed for lunch (when a lunch special is served) and it will usually be very dificult to secure a good table from 7 :30 pm or so until perhaps 9 pm in the evening.

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