The 80-Year-Old Cafe: Serving Billionaire Jensen Huang Twice and the Historic US-North Korea Summit

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For Giảng, it was a special honor to serve a prominent figure like Jensen Huang. More importantly, Giảng received a special kind of energy from him: powerful yet humble, wealthy yet approachable, and friendly.

” Cafe Giảng shared on their Facebook fanpage on December 7th.

Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA – the world’s most valuable chipmaker, recently made his second business trip to Vietnam. A year after Mr. Huang’s first visit, the Vietnamese government and NVIDIA signed an agreement to establish an AI research and development center and a data center in the country.

Besides his busy work schedule, the 11th richest person in the world immersed himself in the daily life of Hanoi, enjoying local delicacies such as beer and fried fermented pork sausage on Ta Hien Street, and eating pho at Bat Dan restaurant. Notably, Café Giảng was the brand he chose for the second time.

On the afternoon of December 5th, under the guidance of Café Giảng staff, Mr. Huang personally brewed and served coffee to about 100 AI experts at an event. During his first visit to Hanoi a year ago, he had visited the Café Giảng on Nguyen Huu Huan Street. This time, due to time constraints, Mr. Huang was served at the event instead.

The NVIDIA CEO shared that he particularly enjoyed the drink, which symbolizes the creativity and resilience of the Vietnamese people during challenging times. He affirmed that he would continue to drink egg coffee when given the opportunity and hoped to see the Vietnamese coffee brand overseas.

Café Giảng was established in 1946, with its first location at 90 Cau Go, then moving to 7 Hang Gai before settling on Nguyen Huu Huan Street, known for its coffee shops. Mr. Nguyen Van Giảng, the founder of the brand, was a bartender at the Metropole Hotel.

Ms. Nguyen Huong Giang, the third-generation heir of the Giảng family, recalled that during those difficult times, Vietnam lacked the resources for Italian-style Capuchino, so her grandfather experimented and created a unique blend of coffee with whipped egg yolks to replace milk, maintaining a rich and creamy taste.

Today, Café Giảng offers a diverse menu, including modern drinks such as cold brew coffee and matcha coconut milk. However, egg coffee remains their most beloved signature drink.

Over a decade ago, Ms. Giang registered the trademark domestically and internationally. After obtaining the trademark, Café Giảng carefully selected partners and developed principles for collaboration and profit sharing, instead of franchising or selling their recipe.

Currently, in addition to their well-known location on Nguyen Huu Huan Street, Café Giảng has a branch inside Lotte Mall Tay Ho, marking the presence of this traditional brand among modern domestic and international brands.

Café Giảng has also invested in brand identity development and product diversification by selling coffee powder, phin coffee filters, and merchandise (t-shirts, gift sets, etc.), adapting to market trends. They have further increased their presence by setting up kiosks at various events.

The most notable event Café Giảng participated in was the 2019 US-North Korea summit. The city of Hanoi ordered nearly 3,000 cups of coffee for the three-day summit, helping to promote the brand internationally.