Some people have a clear path they’re in pursuit of – a calling. Others sort of fall into it without even knowing where it might take them — perhaps one’s true calling. Nearly a decade ago, Ming fell into the cafe world. Initially, working as a barista was just a part time job while she completed her business degree at Hoa Sen University. However, the longer she stayed in that world, the more she took part in the community, and the happier she became. As time went on, she learned how to carve out more space for herself and others to take part in. We met and sat together in front of one of her cafe’s floor-to-ceiling windows facing the shimmering Saigon River. As natural light filled the interior and reflected off Ming’s black, circular-rimmed glasses, she seemed completely lit up—revisiting the memories that had led her to this moment as the owner of Trap. Some people have a clear path they’re in pursuit of. For others, the path only becomes clear when you make space to reflect on how far you’ve come.
For Ming, it’s always been about the people. “I never felt like ‘ugh, I have to go to work.’ I get to go to work,” Ming says. “My happiness is in meeting people. Talking, connecting, and making friends. I do that through coffee.” Her first job at a coffee shop was at Glorial Jeans. She worked there as a first year student in university. From her second year until she graduated, she worked at Starbucks. After graduating, she got a job at OKKIO where she ended up working for six years. She was a big fan of working there, but after so many years, she wanted to do something new. At the time she was living in a studio apartment on Ham Nghi Street. She had an idea to open a small room for her friends to hang out and drink coffee together. So in September 2024, she made use of her own space and silently opened her first cafe, Trap Room. A month later, she quit OKKIO, and then another month later she officially opened her cafe to others. Nothing more than a studio room, it was an intimate space but it represented a giant leap towards Ming creating her kind of place—a perfect trap to meet, connect, and make friends through coffee.
In the beginning, Trap Room was just open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. However, in January 2025, she switched to being open every day except on Tuesdays. Why Tuesdays? Many of her friends work at cafes that are typically closed on Mondays so she chose to offset the days. Doing so allowed her to have her own space while still making time to see her friends who were part of different cafe communities. As the months went on and more customers started visiting Trap Room, Ming wanted to open up the place even more. Or, widen the trap for more people to fall in. This move was motivated by more than just creating more space. First, she needed some private space for herself. She was living and working in the same room all the time so you can imagine it started to feel less like a home and more like a workplace. Second, she wanted to share a room somewhere else. Living alone has its perks but so does living with a good friend. Finally, she wanted the Trap Room to have more sunlight. Ming was living on the upper deck of the studio while the guests stayed on the lower living area. When Ming moved out, everything clicked into place: she got her own private room, got to live with a friend elsewhere, customers had more room to lounge in the cafe, and with the natural light now pouring in from upstairs, the place felt bigger, brighter, and lighter. It was another example of Ming creating her own space within the cafe community — space for herself, and space for others to take part in. And as fate would have it, about a year into running Trap Room, an unexpected opportunity arrived in September. Ming had built the perfect trap, so it was no surprise when one finally walked through the door.
A group of people visited the Trap Room to enjoy a nice drink, some fresh sunlight, and meet Ming. Whilst enjoying coffee and matcha, one person in the group mentioned how they are the landlord of a space on Nguyen Huu Canh street. Ming already knew about it, it was above a photo booth shop and she’d long thought of it as a dream location. She learned although it was nice and spacious, it wasn’t being put to use. As the two kept talking, the writing on the wall became clear — that space next to the shimmering Saigon River was going to be the next step in Ming’s journey with Trap.
Although a bond was quickly formed, she still had to convince the landlord of her vision for the future of Trap. “One moment,” Ming said. Standing up from her chair, she whipped around the barista bar, snaking her way through customers and staff, grabbed her laptop and returned to plop back down in front of me. Her pitch to the landlord was a hybrid cafe concept focusing on three P’s — people, place, and product. As I mentioned before, Ming has always been about people first. Inspired by her love of the tv show, Friends, Ming’s vision was to create a space where people from all walks of life could come together. Something like the Central Perk where a lot of the scenes in Friends took place. In order to welcome all sorts of different people into one communal area, the space had to be fitted correctly. In order to bring her vision to life, she shared a lot of her imagination with her architect friend Phuc who helped create a cozy space.
At the center of what would be called Trap Space which opened in November 2025 is a huge sitting area featuring many different styles of chairs and couches. Adjacent to this is the kitchen area fit with a row of stools where guests can sit down to relax, work and watch the staff behind the bar make drinks and bake desserts. Surrounding the center are other seating areas tailored to different kinds of moods and working styles. A long table for workshops and group projects. Booth seating for more personal, one-on-one conversations. A nook for relaxed reading where guests can browse through the cafe’s selections of some of Ming’s favorites like Harry Potter, Haruki Murakami, and Banana Yoshimoto. On the other side is more of a couch setting where groups of friends can hang out. Complimenting everything are the floor-to-ceiling windows which on any of Saigon’s bright and sunny days, imbue the space with a spaciousness and warmth perfect for losing track of the hours.
As Ming says, it’s a more mature coffee shop in comparison to the very personal Trap Room. A bigger space for bigger things which brings us to the final P: product. In addition to having a larger kitchen area that allows Trap to expand its menu options, there’s also a small corner that puts products from local brands like Dinh Collective and The Matcha Whisking Society chawan on display. That said, beyond just physical products, another one of the reasons Ming loves coming to work at the new Trap Space is that she’s able to host more takeover series with friends. For example, in the first month since opening Trap Space, Ming and her staff teamed up with their long time friends at Củ Cải Bakery for a party where guests could eat their fill of delicious cakes like Matcha canele, Kaya toast, Berry kouign, and Shio pan with pesto & ham. Going forward, Ming will host more creative and collaborative events that bring friends together under one roof. These will include book clubs, DJ sets, workshops, as well as partnering with friends working at various other cafes, bakeries , and wine bars. Establishing a place like Trap has become Ming’s way to deliver her spirit, passion, and herself to the community at large.
At its core, like Ming, Trap has always been about being part of something — part of the cafe world, part of someone’s day, and part of the chain that runs from farmer to barista to guest. Ming has worked to create space for people to do more than just come and drink coffee or eat dessert, but for others to take part in something larger than themselves. And now with Trap’s dual locations, she’s creating room every day for others to fall into her world together. Before I thought she named her cafe Trap because it represented a sort of quiet rebellion against all the sorts of traps many of us all fall into throughout life – the self doubt trap, the comparison trap, the expectations vs reality trap — but in actuality it’s much more subtle. Trap is ‘part’ spelled backwards. A cheeky way of explaining her ethos, drive, and vision in one word.
Ming’s story isn’t one of chasing a calling from the beginning, but of falling into one. A simple part-time job in college set her on a path she couldn’t have planned. Along the way, she’s learned to make space, trust the path, and bring others with her. There’s a Vietnamese phrase she shared with me — nghề chọn mình — the idea that you don’t choose the work, the work chooses you. Not as a grand declaration of destiny, but as something you recognize only in retrospect. So how does one know they’re following the right path? How do you know when you’ve arrived where you’re meant to be? As poet David Whyte once wrote, “How you know you are on the right path is when the path disappears.” All you can do is keep making space, and trust that even if it feels like you’re falling, it’s all part of the process.
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Check out Trap Space on Google Maps
