The entrance to Cafe Pho Co is through a silk and fabric shop at 11 Hang Gai Street, one of the main shopping streets bordering the Old Quarter's south edge. Walk through the shop, past the bolts of fabric and the disinterested shopkeeper, and through the door at the back. A steep, narrow staircase winds up through the building's interior, past residential floors, up to a small rooftop terrace overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake. The view — across the water to the Turtle Tower and Ngoc Son Temple, with the city's roofline behind it — is one of the best in Hanoi from any public point.
The cafe serves ca phe trung (egg coffee, like Cafe Giang) and regular Vietnamese drip coffee, alongside fruit juices and soft drinks. The drinks are not the point; the view is the point. Come at the end of the afternoon when the light is on the lake and the heat of the day has broken. Weekends are crowded; the small terrace fills quickly. The passage through the shop is part of the experience — Cafe Pho Co appears in no signage visible from the street, and finding it still has a small element of discovery even after the travel press has written it up extensively.