In Ho Chi Minh City as in Hanoi, cafés put small tables and low stools out on the pavement. People drink an iced coffee with condensed milk in the morning, a fresh juice in the evening, and watch the city go by.
Over there
Little space, low costs: a few folding tables, some stools, a cool box, and the café is open. Vietnamese coffee, filtered drop by drop through a small metal filter (the "phin"), is strong and often served iced.
In France
Terraces are everywhere, but the feel of little stools at street level and Vietnamese iced coffee are still little known, outside a few neighbourhoods of big cities.
The idea for the Passerelle
- A café or a restaurant in France can find in Vietnam a coffee grower (Vietnam is one of the very biggest coffee producers in the world), "phin" filters or furniture.
- A Vietnamese roaster or grower can find cafés, grocery shops and restaurants as customers in France.
To check before you start
- Setting up a terrace on the pavement requires permission from the town hall, often for a fee.
- You must always leave enough room for pedestrians, pushchairs and wheelchairs.
- Serving drinks and food follows hygiene rules (DDPP, the French local food safety and consumer protection office), and selling alcohol requires a licence.
- Importing coffee means going through customs: ask the service des douanes (French customs) for advice.
For information only (page of 27/10/2026): this information does not engage the responsibility of Passerelle France-Asie. Rules change and depend on your situation: before you start, check with the official body mentioned.