Egg Coffee in Hanoi: What It Is, How It Began and Where to Try It

If there is one drink visitors go home talking about, it is cà phê trứng, Hanoi’s egg coffee. The name sounds strange; the cup tastes closer to a warm coffee dessert, with a thick, sweet layer that sits on top of dark coffee.

What egg coffee is

The base is strong Vietnamese coffee. On top goes egg yolk whipped with sugar and sweetened condensed milk until it turns pale, light and creamy. You get two layers: the foam first, then the bitter coffee underneath.

The family credited with inventing the drink says the full recipe is a secret, and has mentioned that it involves more than yolk and condensed milk. Each café makes its own version, so expect differences in sweetness and thickness. At Café Giảng, the whisking that was once done by hand is now done by machine.

How it began

Egg coffee is credited to Nguyễn Văn Giảng, who worked as a bartender at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi in the 1940s. Vietnamese newspapers that have interviewed his family tell the story in two slightly different ways:

• The milk shortage account. In 1946–47, during the war with France, fresh milk was scarce, so egg yolk was whisked in as a substitute to make coffee rich and creamy.
• The signature drink account. Another report says the hotel wanted a drink of its own, and that the shop selling it opened in 1946. This version does not mention a milk shortage.

Both agree on the inventor, the decade and the place. Which detail is right matters less than the result: a wartime improvisation that became one of the city’s best-known tastes.

Where to try it

The café most closely tied to the drink is Café Giảng, still run by Nguyễn Văn Giảng’s family and describing itself as serving egg coffee since 1946. It has moved since its early days; its current locations are in the table near the top of this guide.

Other cafés in Hanoi make their own versions too. There is no official list of “the best”, and we do not rank cafés we have not reviewed ourselves.

Local tip Egg cocoa, made with chocolate in place of coffee, is also popular with visitors. Try it if you want the foam without the coffee.

Good to know before you order

• The foam is sweet and rich, so it is more of a treat than an everyday coffee. Sip it slowly; the layers mix as you go.
• If you prefer to avoid raw or lightly cooked egg, ask the staff how the foam is prepared, or order a regular Vietnamese coffee instead.