If you’re looking for a peaceful café to study and work right in the city centre, or just a place to shelter from the cacophony of the city, you might put ‘Ngot’ (Sweet) in the back of your mind.

A peaceful corner at 'Ngot'. Photo: H.L

Located in an alley on Le Hong Phong Street in Hai Chau District, the small coffee shop can make for the best study and work environment. You have none of the distractions that you have at home. Plus, there is something about being surrounded by strangers in a cafe that helps motivate us to sit back, focus and study.

Small, simple but very tasteful in interior decoration are the first feelings when I visit ‘Ngot’.

Sitting in the warm space of light, with the rain outside, I order myself a piece of cake, a cup of roasted milk coffee and slowly enjoy it.

Lying modestly on the kitchen counter, the coffee filters are always dripping, day or night. There is one thing that customers need to note that ‘Ngot’ uses 100% Premium Robusta coffee with strong flavour so it can easily cause insomnia when drinking at night.

Therefore, if you are someone who easily gets drunk on coffee, you can choose a cup of Ethiopian Arabica brewed with a lower caffeine content. Perhaps, because the space of the restaurant is quite delicate and warm, customers who come here actively keep quiet and do not talk too loudly for fear of disrupting their need to rest and relax when coming to the venue.

In addition to a variety of coffee, ‘Ngot’ offers cakes and snacks such as croissants, sweet bread or spring rolls and sticky rice.

There is a bit of a contrast at the coffee shop. Drinks can be served slowly when the shop is crowded with customers, but food is always available 5 minutes after ordering. According to the shop owner, a cup of coffee will taste better as your stomach has been filled with bread or a nutritious breakfast.

If you are a bookworm, it is definitely your place since it has a small book shelf, and tall reading lamps hang over your head.

At ‘Ngot’, slowly reading a favourite book and slowly enjoying coffee are the way you balance an already busy life with little time for yourself.

​Reporting by HUYNH LE - Translating by M.DUNG, V.DUNG