Food & Travel Review: Eat Saigon - Sozo Cafe

My Vietnam trip was practically a cafe hunting trip. What best way to enjoy a holiday with lotsa nice coffee and desserts/pastry and simply zen out. Since i didn't do any research before i left, i basically counted on Lonely Planet for some of food options and i think Sozo was on it. Since it was along the same main street as my hotel, i decided to walk there to check it out. 

Sozo is unique from other cafes in the sense that it's mission is to help underprivileged Vietnamese families and their children to break the cycle of debt. Sozo has been providing training for employment for these families since 2005. Food is such an amazing thing because it provides sustenance and more. To me, food brings me joy (not because i'm greedy) and eating is a big thing at home since forever. Food brings family together- the preparation, the cooking, the feasting, the hanging out after and then more eating. So yea, great idea to use food to help these disadvantaged folks. 

The space is quite amazing (as all shops in Saigon are). The first time i popped by the store i thought it was just the ground floor but it turns out that there's more sitting space upstairs. Anyway, there is quite an array of baked goods such as muffins, cakes and cookies. They also do breakfast food (both Vietnamese and American) but i didn't try that.

I like the alfresco space upstairs- little balcony that looks out to the main street. Somehow it is just really quiet and serene upstairs despite the bustling traffic on the road. Feels like i'm chilling out at somebody's place.

This was breakfast before i left Saigon for Phu Quoc. Ice Blended Vietnamese coffee which was awesome. Boy that was some kick start to my hyper-energy for the rest of the day. The left is a Caramel roll which was nice when warmed up (absolutely bad when it's cold because it turns rock hard). The right is a carrot cake which is fabulous.

I like a good carrot cake but i seldom order it for desserts, simply because a lot of places don't make good ones. A good carrot cake should be very moist but dense at the same time. The cream cheese frosting is also very important to the entirety of the cake. At first glance, it may seem like there's too little frosting but the amount was just right, since the cake isn't very tall. The cake tastes very fresh as well and you can sill see and recognize the carrot bits in it, totally unlike what we usually see in Sg. Most of the time it looks like oxidised carrot (i don't think carrots oxidise but they always look like they do somehow).
So yea, great concept, great place, simple and hearty food that comes from the heart. Please support them!

Sozo
176 Bui Vien, District 1,Ho Chi Minh Ciy, Vietnam 
Tel: 095 870 6580 or 0909 306 971
Daily: 7:00am - 10:30pm
Email: info@sozocentre.com

Ho Chi Minh City on Dwellable