Among the countless coffee shops following the modern trend, Nghe has chosen a unique path - slow, ancient and full of identity in the middle of Hoang Mai street, Hanoi. Not only a place to enjoy coffee, Nghe used to be a place to preserve the memories of a family, a space of art permeating every wall, bush and a resting place for souls seeking tranquility in the heart of the city.
Through time and change, the house has been preserved through three generations, from the ancestors to the maternal grandfather and his brother, the keepers of the tradition. To this day, the fifth generation of the family continues to be attached to this place, breathing new life into it not with concrete or steel glass, but with art and respect for the past.
The house is over 100 years old
With a job related to art, the owner – a fifth generation member of the family, has long cherished the desire to create a private coffee space: a place to receive guests and hold artistic activities in a culturally rich setting. And as a natural arrangement, the family’s old house has become the ideal land to realize the space named Nghe.
The family's ancient house has become the ideal land to realize the space named Nghe.
“The most memorable memory in the journey of turning the ancestral house into a coffee shop is definitely the time of renovating the garden. In the first days of cleaning, the whole family and friends rolled up their sleeves, together chopped bananas, picked up leaves, scooped up sacks of branches, and cleaned every corner of the yard. It was during that time that the chaos gradually gave way to neatness and the affection between family members also became closer, gradually becoming a precious memory that the young owner of Nghe will always carry with him” - Mr. Huy Anh, owner of Nghe shop, shared.
The board with rustic chalk lines
Open space at Nghe
Nghe and artistic dots
The name “Nghe” is not simply a random choice. It is a resonance between indigenous cultural elements and contemporary creative spirit. In the yard, there are four ancient Nghe - traditional mascots of the Vietnamese, representing majesty, brilliance and purity. Naming the restaurant “Nghe.” is to remember and honor the value of identity, and the dot at the end - “Nghe.” is a silence with many layers of meaning, an invitation to curiosity, an open space for personal feelings. Some people read it as “Nghe,” others read it as “Nghe” - both ways are correct, because art does not have just one interpretation.
That also reflects the spirit that the owner wants to spread, art should not be confined in a stereotype, it is free and multidimensional in feeling like the name of the shop.
Multi-generational family photos of the restaurant owner
Art space at Nghe.
Unlike the coffee shops in high-rise buildings or on the main road, Nghe quietly nestles in a quiet campus, surrounded by rows of ancient trees, climbing vines and green banana bushes. The spacious, airy garden, although not sophisticated in arrangement, has a very rustic, familiar beauty. It is the beauty of time, of fallen leaves, of moss covering the tiled roof, of wooden doors heavy with age, all creating a quiet space, separate from the hurried pace of life out there.
Entering Nghe, people do not only drink coffee but also enter a dialogue with art. The paintings hanging everywhere from the living room to the hallway are not simply decorative paintings, but works from the personal collection of the owner's father, who has had a passion for painting since 1997.
Like a miniature art museum
In particular, a large part of that collection is the paintings of artist Pham Luc - a giant of contemporary Vietnamese fine arts, who is known as "Vietnam's Picasso". Since 2001, after a chance meeting and conversation with artist Pham Luc, the owner's father was truly captivated by his paintings - simple but profound works, rich in emotions and imbued with national spirit. In them, the images of farmers, mothers, soldiers... always appear realistic, simple but touching.
When these works are placed in the space of an ancient house, a miracle happens between the old and the new, between the past and the present, between tradition and creativity - everything blends together in an incredibly harmonious way. Nghe is no longer a coffee shop, but becomes a place of living art, where every step you take can encounter a slice of Vietnamese culture.
In the era of flashy check-in cafes or modern co-working spaces, Nghe still chooses a path without flashing lights, without flashy technology, only old roofs and storytelling paintings. It is a place where people can come to read a book, sip a cup of roasted coffee, admire an oil painting, or simply sit still and breathe in a quiet afternoon. Perhaps, the biggest difference of this place is not in the design, but in the soul. It carries a family's love for tradition, carries the passion for art of many generations and carries the dream of a decent living space, where beauty is cherished and shared.
