In the Tan Dinh area of District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, there's a cafe called "Ca Phe Do Phu" where a wartime secret base remains just as it was. It's an old coffee and com tam (broken rice) shop that opened in the 1940s, but its true identity was a secret base of the Saigon special forces (Biet Dong). Beneath the floor, an underground bunker where weapons and documents were hidden and escape passages still remain, and customers can actually go down and tour them. A place where you can touch the memory of war with a Vietnamese coffee in hand, an unmissable spot for history lovers.
Tan Dinh, District 1: a long-established cafe going more than half a century
The shop is at 113A Dang Dung Street in the Tan Dinh area of District 1. It's a coffee and com tam shop opened in the 1940s by Mr. Do Mien and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Su, and the name "Do Phu" (the Do household) comes from this family. On the surface it's a perfectly ordinary neighborhood cafe, but before 1975 this shop had another face. It's open daily from 7:00 to 22:00.
A Saigon special forces base disguised as an ordinary cafe
During the war, this shop functioned as a secret base of the Saigon special forces (Biet Dong). The owner held secret meetings inside the shop, hid weapons and ammunition, and sheltered soldiers and operatives pursued by US forces. The one who managed the shop's secret operations was Mr. Tran Van Lai (known as Nam Lai). Behind a cafe bustling with everyday customers, the resistance movement's communication network was in motion.
The underground bunker, escape route, and secret mailbox that still remain
Inside the shop, the passages and ladders for escaping if a meeting was exposed still remain. Underground, a secret bunker was dug to store weapons and important documents, and a "secret mailbox" was cleverly hidden for communicating safely. Customers can actually go down beneath the floor and see up close the spaces where supplies were hidden and soldiers lay concealed. A major feature is that, unlike a touristified ruin, this history is preserved as part of a working cafe.
Signature menu and prices (with yen conversion)
The signature is com tam Dai Han (Korean-style broken rice), which also became the shop's name. It's a plate of fragrantly grilled pork and a fried egg over rice. For drinks, you can enjoy butter coffee, which adds richness to traditional Vietnamese coffee, and ca phe den da (iced black coffee). The prices are quite affordable for the high historical value.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | 113A Dang Dung Street (Tan Dinh, District 1) |
| Hours | 7:00 to 22:00 (daily) |
| Signature menu | Com tam Dai Han / butter coffee |
| Drink | Roughly around 10,000 to 25,000 VND (about 60 to 150 yen) |
| Highlights | Underground bunker, escape passage, secret mailbox |
Prices are rough guides. Considering that for the price of a cup of coffee you also get to feel wartime history firsthand, the value is high.
What it means for a Japanese traveler to visit
Places to trace the memory of war are dotted around Ho Chi Minh City, but a place where you can go down into a wartime bunker while drinking coffee at a working cafe is rare. You can touch the vivid reality of a civilian-level resistance movement that you won't see just by touring the standard sights. For a traveler interested in history, it's a stopover that deepens the meaning of your stay.
Summary
Ca Phe Do Phu is a cafe where wartime history and daily life coexist, preserving its past as a secret base of the Saigon special forces just as it was. You can actually tour the underground bunker and escape route beneath the floor, and savor the signature com tam and Vietnamese coffee affordably. If you want to get both history and experience in Ho Chi Minh City, it's a place worth visiting.
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