Do Phu Cafe: Where Vietnamese Coffee Meets Vintage Mystery

• Cafe Gems

1. A Café With a Covert Past

A Hidden Base Underneath a Simple Coffee Shop

Originally opened in the 1940s by Mr. Do Mien and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Su, Do Phu started as a modest coffee and broken rice shop (com tấm). But beneath its humble appearance lay something far more intriguing: a secret base used by the Saigon Special Forces during the Vietnam War

Managed by Sí Tướng Tran Van Lai (also known by aliases including Nam Lai), the café’s interiors masked a covert operations hub. A narrow bunker—less than 20 cm wide—was ingeniously concealed within a wardrobe on the second floor. Soldiers could crawl through this passage to escape to nearby streets like Trần Quang Khải or Nguyễn Văn Nguyễn.

Secret Mailbox & Underground Vault

Beyond the hidden bunker, a cleverly disguised “secret mailbox” allowed covert communications. The tunnel also served as storage for documents, medicine, money, gold—critical resources for resistance operations

2. Vintage Vibe & Atmosphere

Walking into Do Phu feels like traveling into old Saigon. The house itself dates back to the 1940s, featuring wooden floors, vintage ceiling fans, and warm, nostalgic decor straight out of a bygone era.

Artifacts from the war era—cassette players, rusted irons, old coffee grinders, thermoses, even butter tubes—line the walls, each silently narrating stories from an intense era of Vietnamese history

Garden Courtyard & Multiple Locations
If you prefer an outdoor experience, the café also offers a serene garden courtyard—perfect for sipping coffee and watching the city drift by.

Today, there are several branches of Do Phu, including:

• 113A Đặng Dung Street, District 1 (the original)
• 270 Võ Văn Tần Street, District 3
• 145 Trần Quang Khải Street, District 1