The building doesn’t look like much from the outside.
asserted
building → look → outside
It’s festooned with your usual jumble of powerlines and besieged by an armada of motorbikes.
asserted
It → festoon → motorbikes
A few tourists check their phones to see if they’re in the right place and a street food vendor looks bored as she casually slaps together a meal that would be haute cuisine in any other part of the world but in Vietnam, you get it for less than a buck.
asserted
you → check → buck
When I delve a little deeper into No. 14 Ton That Dam, I see that facades can be deceiving and I’ve wandered into one of the coolest spots in Ho Chi Minh City.
asserted
I → delve → City
It’s a French colonial ruin that has been commandeered by hipster bars and cafes, the kind of place where you can have a coffee in the afternoon, a cocktail in the evening, and get a tattoo, if you’re into that sort of thing.
asserted
you → ’ → thing
The first cafe I visit is a gorgeous spot that is ruined by the not uncommon sight of tourists with their heads buried in their phones.
asserted
heads → visit → phones
Three of them monopolise the best seats in the house, sitting by a window that gazes out into the city.
asserted
that → monopolise → city
Watching them makes me all the more grateful that I grew up travelling at a time before smartphones became a thing, otherwise it could be me sitting there, oblivious to the beauty that is right in front of me.
uncertain
that → watch → me
I pick my next stop based on it being filled with locals.
asserted
it → pick → locals
It’s another (equally gorgeous) cafe that throws me a curly by not serving beer.
asserted
that → ’ → beer
The embarrassed smile of the girl behind the bar makes me feel like a mild degenerate so another coffee it is, then, despite it being five o’clock in the afternoon.
asserted
it → make → afternoon
I don’t usually partake in the black stuff at that hour but when in Vietnam, do as the Vietnamese do, and this cafe is one of the busiest places in the whole building.
asserted
cafe → partake → building
The coffee is fantastic and it gives me all the energy I need to go bouncing off the crumbling walls in that ruin, climbing my way to the peak of this apartment block.
asserted
I → give → block
Some of the venues here are almost hidden, and it’s easy to blow past if you’re not paying attention.
asserted
you → ’ → attention
Exploring it becomes a game of hide and seek that I take a little too seriously when, thinking something might be another cool bar, I inadvertently end up in the fire escape.
uncertain
I → explore → escape
But when I finally make it to the pinnacle of the building, I arrive at Memento Saigon, a cocktail bar that makes my list of the top bars in Asia.
asserted
that → make → Asia
It’s like stepping into Narnia.
asserted
It → ’ → Narnia
The door is a bookshelf and pushing it open, I’m welcomed into a whole other world.
asserted
I → push → world
Crooners are singing from the speakers, the decor makes me feel like I’m sitting in a 1920s garden party and, best of all, there is not a single tourist on their phone in sight.
asserted
I → sing → sight
It’s hard to go past a negroni here.
asserted
It → ’ → negroni
They’re my go-to cocktail because they’re so damn hard to mess up but you’d be amazed how many bars I’ve been to that try their damnedest.
asserted
that → ’re → damnedest
Bars that take a classic equation of gin, vermouth and Campari, and turn it into something that tastes like orange-scented dish soap.
asserted
that → take → soap
The negroni is perfectly balanced and while it pains me to talk about cost in a place like Vietnam, the fact that it’s only $6 really speaks to the budget backpacker in me.
asserted
it → pain → me
They have more inventive cocktails on their list and everything I try blows me away.
asserted
I → have → me
And while I’d love to describe these drinks in more detail, my memories get blurry and my notes from that night appear to be written in hieroglyphics.
asserted
notes → love → hieroglyphics
There are a lot of underlines, exclamation marks(!), and what appears to be the sketch of a coconut.
asserted
what → be → coconut
Just because I found my favourite, a night here is your adventure, and there is nothing stopping you from falling in love with yours.
asserted
night → find → yours
The happy hour (5pm–8pm) is absurdly good value for classics, but make sure you try some of their signature creations.
asserted
you → make → creations
The writer travelled at their own expense
asserted
writer → travel → expense
The Aporia
