Located in a small alley on busy Nguyen Hoang Street, Da Nang, the Bu Ga coffee shop is very inviting to locals and visitors thanks to its cozy, familial ambience, and very simple yet impressive décor.

The impressive inside of the Bu Ga coffee shop

Especially, it is an ideal place for those who want to recall the difficult time when Viet Nam’s economy was under state-subsidy, and step away from the bustle of modern life.

Interestingly, guests may feel as if they were back to the subsidy period in Viet Nam inside a typical house dating back from the 1980s rather than a café.

On entering this shop, visitors will be impressed by the simple architectural retro-style with old walls and old-fashioned window frames.

In a limited but hardly cramped space, the coffee shop sets the stage for artifacts of a bygone era to feel completely at home. Such items of the subsidy period which are hardly seen in modern households as radios, black-and-white TVs, old-styled cupboards and kerosene lamps are arranged in an extremely free style.

Impressively-styled tables and chairs are arranged for customers to sit and chat at leisure, reflecting how life has changed from “those days.”

The calming atmosphere helps to bring people closer together, and make them put aside their smartphones to actually engage in real conversations with their friends.

The coffee shop offers a varied drinks menu to satisfy its guests. In keeping with the decor, irresistibly delicious drinks are reasonably priced, only at 10,000VND or more.

Interestingly, the name of this coffee shop makes any customer curious and eager to decode it. It turns out that ‘bu ga’ in Vietnamese is a chicken cage which is common to see in rural areas. Aluminum trays are placed over these chicken cages so as to create unique tables. Indeed, for those who grew up in rural areas, it is easy to feel the familiarity and closeness through these items.

Noticeably, the second floor of this shop is a store selling a wide range of secondhand stuff such as clothes, footwear and household items. Perhaps, the young customers will find quite a lot of interesting items offered at affordable prices when coming to this site.

Last, but not least, the venue’s staff members here always show an enthusiastic attitude and friendly behaviour towards their customers.

By THACH LAM - Translated by ANH THU