Maison de Tet Décor is a cafe in Tay Ho, Hanoi.
Maison de Tet Décor in Hanoi is a vintage French-villa cafe in Tay Ho's Quang An, with healthy brunch plates, garden seating and a slow-pour coffee bar.
Must order: The avocado toast with poached eggs, or the smoothie bowl with the slow-pour Vietnamese arabica.
Tip: Garden tables fill first in the cool months; indoor air-con upstairs for summer. Strong Wi-Fi and laptop-friendly.
Address: 58 Tu Hoa, Quang An, Tay Ho, Hanoi
The Hanoi Social Club is a 1920s French colonial villa in the Old Quarter serving filter coffee, brunch and live acoustic music to remote-working expats.
Signature drink: Vietnamese filter coffee
Order: A Vietnamese filter coffee with the all-day brunch board; vegetarian options on every page.
Tip: Three floors; the rooftop is the quietest for laptop work. Live music in the evenings, check schedule.
Maison Marou in Hanoi is the chocolate cafe and shop of Vietnam's bean-to-bar Marou, plating French pastries with single-origin Vietnamese chocolate.
Signature drink: Single-origin Vietnamese hot chocolate
Order: The single-origin hot chocolate from Tien Giang or Ba Ria beans, with a chocolate-and-almond croissant.
Tip: Watch the chocolate kitchen at work through the back-room windows; the bar sells single-origin bars to take home.
Café Giảng in Hanoi is where egg coffee was invented in 1946, served down a narrow alley off Nguyen Huu Huan in the Old Quarter by the founder's descendants.
Signature drink: Cà phê trứng egg coffee
Order: Ca phe trung: whipped egg yolk and condensed milk on Vietnamese coffee, the original recipe from 1946.
Tip: Down a narrow alley off Nguyen Huu Huan; the cafe is at the back of a small courtyard. Egg coffee 35,000 VND.
Cafe Pho Co in Hanoi is the rooftop egg-coffee balcony hidden behind a silk shop on Hang Gai, reached through a corridor, courtyard and home staircase.
Signature drink: Cà phê trứng egg coffee with Hoan Kiem Lake view
Order: Ca phe trung with a seat on the rooftop terrace; the iced coconut coffee runs a close second.
Tip: Enter through the red-fronted silk shop at street level, then follow the corridor to the courtyard and climb to the roof.
Cafe Đinh in Hanoi was opened in 1987 by Cafe Giang's daughter Mrs Bich, with a tiny upstairs balcony over Hoan Kiem Lake and the original 1946 recipe.
Signature drink: Cà phê trứng egg coffee
Order: Ca phe trung hot or iced, on the narrow first-floor balcony overlooking the lake.
Tip: Up an old staircase above a travel agency; the balcony has six seats. Iced 35,000 VND, hot 30,000 VND.
Loading T café in Hanoi occupies the second floor of an 8 Chan Cam French villa from the 1930s, with original geometric tiles and olive-green shutters.
Signature drink: Cà phê trứng egg coffee with cinnamon
Order: The cinnamon egg coffee or the coconut coffee, with one of the homemade cakes from the small bakery counter.
Tip: Five minutes from Hoan Kiem Lake and two from St Joseph's Cathedral. Climb past the family shrine on the way up.