I sat with Anh on the mezzanine in Bluish Cafe, a space known as Bluish Records. It’s covered from head to toe in records: a bookcase lined with them covers one wall while boxes stuffed with them are everywhere, forcing you to maneuver through the space as if you were playing a game of the floor is lava. Anh got comfortable on a bean bag, I sat across from her. Facing me on the bookshelf was a record from Yamashita Tatsuro (a personal favourite from the city pop genre), Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, and Norah Jones’s Come Away With Me. In a way, the space reminded me of the vinyl bars in Tokyo I’d visit every now and again while growing up there. Those bars always came equipped with the highest quality sound systems and owners who possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of music, a quality which, through talking to Anh, I discovered she had as well. It was fitting then that we had our conversation surrounded by music. Once in a while something would play on the speakers and one of us would turn our heads, recall the melody or remember a lyric, pause in that stillness where memory transports you to the place you first heard that song, or when it most meant something to you: during love’s blossoming, after a breakup, or an evening spent with friends, when the laughter made your chest hurt… Our conversation was peppered with numerous moments like this, which is why more than being the owner of a cafe, record shop, wine bar, and cosmetic brand, I consider Anh to be a lover of music.
Anh was born in Saigon, and has pretty much lived here her whole life. When she told me she came from a family of bankers, I couldn’t help but laugh. Simply put, the statement caught me off guard—If you’ve ever met her or been to Bluish or Mowe, you might understand why. Both spots have a calm, nuanced, free energy about them, and I suppose I might have a stereotype about bankers and that industry but relaxed and mellow aren’t adjectives I’d use to describe them. Having said that, Anh’s father played a pivotal role in influencing her love of music early on. He worked in Kyiv for a while, and upon returning to Vietnam, brought a collection of vinyl records back with him. He had a habit of leaving the radio on, and it was through that Anh first heard musicians like The Carpenters and Billy Joel. She was still a child then, but the effects of their music have reverberated through decades, remaining with her to this day. In any case, despite her father—who Anh says has a musical soul—coming from a family with a banking background meant there was something of an expectation for Anh to follow suit. Throughout her youth she never had much of an opportunity to pursue music, and though she had a love of the art, she ended up studying banking and accounting in university. As she put it, she didn’t like it from the get go, but rather than just quitting there, she wanted to gain a real understanding of why she didn’t like it. So she continued, and upon graduating, spent a year working in a bank. That’s when she reached her tipping point: it was time for a new tune.
The change came in the form of an internship at ELLE magazine, owing to an interest in marketing and events. The internship turned into a full-time position where she worked as a personal assistant to her boss. From there, she landed a remote digital marketing job at a Singaporean company. Around the same time, Anh opened an Airbnb in the first floor of the building that would later go on to be where she opened Mowe, her wine bar. Besides that, she also started a cosmetics brand called BeSplendid. The company focuses on imports and exports of cosmetic products from the US, UK, Australia, Japan, and Korea into Vietnam. This was all around the time of the Covid pandemic. Luckily, thanks to her remote work and cosmetics business, she wasn’t as badly affected by the pandemic, and describes this period as one where she was able to develop more skills while the world hit the pause button. After the pandemic, she shifted into branding. She learned about the industry while focusing on BeSplendid, but it was around then an idea bubbled in her mind about opening up a space to honour her lifelong love of music.
I always had the impression that Bluish Cafe came before Bluish Records. Talking to Anh, I found that wasn’t the case. To her, the record shop comes first. Originally she kept a collection of records at the office from where she ran BeSplendid. She had a few customers here and there, one of whom was a DJ from Hanoi. Through their conversations, he suggested opening a bigger space where people could come together to discuss vinyls and music. Though intrigued, she had her doubts. Still, she had a look online at available locations which is when she came across the current space in Thảo Điền. She visited on the same day, fell in love with the quiet, quaint alleyway it used to be but then it was the landlord’s turn to be apprehensive. He wasn’t sure about opening up a record store—Who would want to come to a record store on a quiet, quaint alleyway? Despite these questions, they went ahead and signed the deal. Anh recalled a few rocky months at the start. There was a lack of customers and the space had yet to really be built out into the cosy, intimate setting it’s known for today. However, over time it filled up: with people, furniture, and even more records until you get what you have today: a space that has held true to Anh’s original vision for expanding the vinyl community in Vietnam and for music lovers like herself to come together.
As of late May, 2025, three years have passed since Bluish’s opening. They’ve hosted numerous events including coffee pop ups, movie nights, and vinyl jamming sessions. Through it all, Anh’s learned a lot. From an ever-deepening appreciation of coffee, to figuring out how to develop a team that she can trust to be creative and passionate, all the way to understanding the right system of operations for the F&B industry. Coupling this experience and knowledge with an interest in wine culture, she started thinking about her next move.
Mowe, the wine bar that opened in December 2024 on Phạm Viết Chánh, means “moon” and “we,” or, the “moon” and “us”. Walking into the place, you understand why. There’s a moon-shaped lamp hanging in the room that gives the place a dreamy, ethereal quality, and when you visit with a friend or lover, you occasionally do get the impression that nothing exists outside the walls of the bar. Before opening, Anh started with the concept of creating a space where guests could enjoy wine as well as learn about the history behind each bottle. This deep appreciation and respect is something you see at Bluish as well, where coffee is treated as something more than just a drink—There are stories Anh wants to share behind every cup of coffee and glass of wine, and questions that once answered, give you a clue into why the drink tastes, smells, and looks the way it does. Renting the space was something of a similar story to how she found Bluish. She knew about the building because a room on the ground floor was where BeSplendid used to have its office. The room that was available was upstairs, in what used to be an architect’s office so it possessed a depth of character she found intriguing. Again, the landlord worried. A wine bar in an unknown alleyway? Where guests had to go up a flight of stairs to get to? Still, they went ahead. Recalling the time Anh laughed, the more risk is involved, the more curious she gets at giving it a shot.
As is often the case when you start something new, the beginning tends to be a little rocky. For months Anh operated Mowe as something of a 1-woman show, oftentimes cooking something at home which she would then bring to the bar to share with customers. Though she’s happy with her team now, it was difficult to find the right group because Mowe’s an open bar, meaning you have to engage with customers on top of being well-versed in the many available bottles of wine. Thankfully, just like how she formed a young, passionate team at Bluish, Mowe is on its way to getting its own. Of course, it’s also impossible to forget music’s role at Mowe. A record player’s setup in the middle of the bar counter, constantly playing anything from Anh and her team’s collection of vinyl: anything from Anri to Christopher Cross to The Smiths. Once again, her love of music is rooted in the essence of what she does. She’s already hosted a few tipsy morning clubs (drinks and djs while the sun’s out?), coffee takeovers, and more recently, a Hygge themed wine and dine popup with David and Naja, two young, talented chefs from Denmark. Though much younger than Bluish, Mowe’s own charming, nuanced identity is beginning to take shape. Looking ahead to what’s next, Anh wants to host more wine tasting nights and pair those flavours with sounds from her favorite records. And who knows? Maybe one day she’ll realise another dream: that of starting a record label where she can create a grander vision for the Vietnamese music experience.
With that, our conversation ended. Thinking about what Anh told me, I thought once more about how ironic it is that sometimes you’ve got to do what’s expected of you before you get to do what you really want. For so long, Anh’s path was set. Though she had a love and passion for music, she was going to be a banker. She went so far as spending a year working at a bank, at which point she knew the jig was up: she couldn’t do this for the rest of her life. It’s at moments like those—so long as you take a leap of faith—you might find that your one true destiny beckons, loud and clear like a radio playing The Carpenters and Billy Joel back when you were just a child. In the end, Anh listened to herself in the same way she listens to the songs she loves, with tenderness, with understanding and appreciation. And that’s why more than being the owner of a cafe, record shop, wine bar, and cosmetic brand, I consider Anh to be a lover of music.
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