Cafeography
Ho Chi Minh City · District 5 & Chợ Lớn

Cafés in District 5 & Chợ Lớn

Chinatown's temples and lantern street, cloth-filter coffee and a long run of tea counters.

Photo: Tuan Vy, Pexels License

Chợ Lớn, "big market", grew up as the town of the Hoa, Vietnam's ethnic Chinese.1 The French made it a municipality by decree in 1865, and on 27 April 1931 it was merged with Saigon into one administrative area.1 The quarter covers the old District 5 and District 6, and since July 2025 old District 5 has been the Chợ Lớn, An Đông and Chợ Quán wards.13

Its coffee history is long: cloth-filtered cà phê vợt comes from the Hoa drink shops of Chợ Lớn.5 Today the main roads are lined with small drink counters, many of them for tea and milk tea, while cafés with tables, posted hours and Wi-Fi are few.

Local tip: Pair the Thiên Hậu temple at 710 Nguyễn Trãi with an evening coffee on Lương Nhữ Học, the lantern street, where Cà Phê Gao Trần opens at 19:00.12

At a glance

373Cafés listed
6With opening hours
06:30Earliest opening
00:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Cà Phê Boca, from 06:30 (Daily 06:30–22:00).
  • Closes latest: Cà Phê Gao Trần, until 00:00 (Daily 19:00–00:00).
  • Most listed streets: Trần Hưng Ðạo (27), Nguyễn Trãi (26), Phan Văn Trị (10).
  • Most common features: takeaway (4%), wi-fi (2%), open late (1%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Ho Chi Minh City.

Coffee chains in District 5 & Chợ Lớn

Chain

Trung Nguyên Coffee

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Chain

Highlands Coffee

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Temples, guildhalls and markets

Chợ Lớn ward, made of the old wards 11 to 14, holds much of the quarter's heritage: national-rank clan halls and temples such as Hà Chương, Nghĩa An, Ôn Lăng and Tuệ Thành, the Chợ Lớn mosque of 1932, the Hải Thượng Lãn Ông traditional-medicine street, the Phùng Hưng stationery street and a lantern street on Lương Nhữ Học.2

Tuệ Thành is better known as the Thiên Hậu temple, at 710 Nguyễn Trãi, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu and dating from about 1760.124 Bình Tây market, the largest and oldest surviving market in Chợ Lớn, was built in 1928–1930 and stands in Bình Tây ward.1

Cà phê vợt in Chợ Lớn

The Pháp Luật newspaper places Chợ Lớn across the old districts 5, 6 and 11 and says vợt coffee survives in only a few places there.5 In May 2025 Tiền Phong listed one in District 5 on Phùng Hưng and another near Chợ Thiếc that has run for more than 70 years, and gave the going price as 15,000–20,000₫ a cup.6

Drink counters on Trần Hưng Đạo and Nguyễn Trãi

Trần Hưng Đạo and Nguyễn Trãi, the two long roads that run from District 1 into Chợ Lớn, carry most of District 5's shops, and many are counters rather than cafés. Names such as Qing Cha, Ka Tea, Miutea, Boba Find and Hồng Trà Tuổi Thơ point to tea and milk tea, and Vinh Ký and Hồ Lô Vàng on Trần Hưng Đạo are takeaway counters.

A second cluster sits on Phan Văn Trị, Huỳnh Mẫn Đạt and the numbered lots of Lê Hồng Phong, a few blocks from the University of Science campus at 227 Nguyễn Văn Cừ, now in Chợ Quán ward.7 Here too the shops are small: Mây Coffee, Tiến Thịnh and Ngọc Huyền Sweet House are a few doors apart on Phan Văn Trị.

District 5 cafés with posted hours

Few shops here post their hours. Of those that do, Cà Phê Hồng at 281 Hùng Vương is open 24 hours and Coffee Thúy Vi at 239 Hùng Vương 06:30–21:00. Cà Phê Gao Trần, at 20 Lương Nhữ Học on the lantern street, opens only in the evening, 19:00 to midnight.2 Cà Phê Boca, down an alley at 240/32 Nguyễn Văn Luông on the District 6 side, serves brunch from 06:30.

Sources

  1. Chợ Lớn, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. Chợ Lớn (phường), Wikipedia (Vietnamese), accessed October 2026
  3. A Post-Merger Guide To Ho Chi Minh City: Understanding The City, Vietcetera (July 27, 2025), accessed October 2026
  4. Thien Hau Temple, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  5. Uống cà phê vợt, nhớ Sài Gòn xưa, Báo Pháp Luật Việt Nam, accessed October 2026
  6. Bạn trẻ Sài Gòn thích thú với cà phê vợt, Tiền Phong (May 6, 2025), accessed October 2026
  7. Cơ sở 1: 227 Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Phường Chợ Quán (notice, October 28, 2025), University of Science, VNU-HCM, accessed October 2026
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In District 5 & Chợ Lớn, also browse: Specialty coffee Wi-Fi Open by 6am Open late 24 hours Outdoor seating

FAQ

District 5 & Chợ Lớn cafés: questions

What is Chợ Lớn in Ho Chi Minh City's District 5?

Chợ Lớn, meaning "big market", is the historic Chinese quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, built by the Hoa community and spread over the old Districts 5 and 6. It became a French municipality in 1865 and merged with Saigon in 1931. Its landmarks include the Thiên Hậu temple at 710 Nguyễn Trãi and Bình Tây market.

Where can you drink cà phê vợt in Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City?

Cloth-filtered vợt coffee comes from the Hoa drink shops of Chợ Lớn, which spread over the old districts 5, 6 and 11, and only a handful still make it. In May 2025 Tiền Phong listed one on Phùng Hưng in District 5 and another near Chợ Thiếc that has run for over 70 years, with cups at 15,000–20,000₫.

Which wards replaced District 5 in Ho Chi Minh City?

Since July 2025 old District 5 has been divided into three wards: Chợ Lớn, An Đông and Chợ Quán. Chợ Lớn ward, made of the old wards 11 to 14, holds the Thiên Hậu temple, the Hải Thượng Lãn Ông medicine street and the lantern street on Lương Nhữ Học. The University of Science's campus on Nguyễn Văn Cừ is in Chợ Quán.

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