I found Lalaland because I was craving a cold Beerlao. A lucky Google search and proximity to a friend’s apartment brought me inside one of a million beer and coffee shops in Saigon. Like a hardcover that has lost its sleeve, from a distance Lalaland blends in with “this place” and “that place”. Opened in 2017 in Bình Thạnh and relocated in 2019 to District 3, it is packed among similar books on the city’s shelves. So why is Lalaland different? Is it the decor? A Vietnamese-Western pastiche of pictures of blondes in cowboy hats, bottles hanging from the ceiling, bottle caps lining parts of the wall, tired couches, old TVs, maps of Vietnam, a coffee bar, and a small kitchen. Is it the food? The beer? The coffee? After speaking with the owner, Thao, it is clear that he is the reason Laland is so special.
A Bình Dương transplant who has lived in Saigon for the last twenty years, Thao is reserved, yet social. He tells me his favourite thing to do is travel, drink beer, and converse in new bars. He says this is a form of the most important thing in life: freedom. According to Thao, the most important aspect of life is: “the ability to choose for yourself.” This ideology is sewn into the fabric of Lalaland. With around fifty different beers to choose from, the gimmick is simple: grab your beer from the fridge, open it yourself, drink it, and watch motorbikes fly down Hoàng Sa. “Homestyle drinking”, says Thao, “the feeling of ‘Lala’; of dreaming and floating.”
The fridges are stocked with Vietnamese classics: BiaSaigon, Tiger, 333, Bia Hanoi, but also Vietnamese craft that is difficult to find, as well as ciders, beer from around Southeast Asia, beer from North America, and many different Belgian beers. The fridge is a living journal of Thao’s travels: when he tries a beer he likes, he gets it in the fridge. A concept so simple, yet so familiar. An unannounced visit from a faraway friend.
I tell Thao how his collection helped me introduce my dad’s game to my friends. We hide different beers behind our backs and make each other pick a hand. A way to try new beers and possibly slip a high-percentage Belgian beer into someone’s rotation. A stupid game, but a reminder of the beer fridge in my parents’ garage. Thao listens, laughs, and mentions something about freedom. We sip our drinks and listen to the bikes in the street. Today is the Ghost Festival. The temple nearby has built up a torrent and the dam is about to burst.
After the night’s beers and the sun rising, Lalaland turns into a cafe. “Coffee freedom during the day, beer freedom at night,” Thao jokes. Just like many other cafes, a small coffee-to-go-cart sits on the sidewalk and beckons oncoming traffic. People scatter around the small tables. Some smoke, some play games on their phones, some sip coffee, some are delivery drivers laying back in their uniforms next to an e-bike charging station. My eye catches the station’s sign for a combo that contains a plate of food, a drink, and a charge. A respite meant for the carriers of the city. Thao says this is because it is important for everyone to have a place to rest. His words solidify my thoughts into something tangible: Lalaland is the feeling of coming home.
The more I think about, look around, and picture Lalaland in my mind, the more I can’t stop coming back to the idea of home. Whether on purpose or not, the decor, despite seeming haphazard, gives me the feeling of sitting in a friend’s basement. Home in Canada. To different people this could be a rec room, a common room, or a circle of friends sitting cross-legged on the floor of a studio apartment. Everything about Lalaland points to this. It does not attract a certain crowd, it is not meant for foreigners or locals, rather, both and neither. A paradox crafted by a man that loves beer, coffee, and freedom. A space embodying Thao’s “homely” description of his favourite beer: Tiger.
At the tail end of our conversation, I ask Thao about the construction in the room next to us. He tells me about the plans to make this room into a specialty coffee shop. One where you are free to serve yourself pour over coffee. He then tells me about his coffee farm, about twenty kilometers outside of Đà Lạt and his plans to use this coffee in the upcoming expansion. Another chapter being written in the story of Thao.
- Find Lalaland
