I have been going to this cute cafe for the last 7 years but not regularly. Last week with my friend's son, I went back to Anh Cafe and enjoyed the experience and very much.
Right opposite Thien Quang Lake, this is a great place for people-watching. The big trees in front provide shade for the customers and a nice breeze from the lake blows across, which is a blessing in the heat of the Hanoi summer. The coffee isn't the best in town but it passes the test on a morning when I am a bit slow to get going. I take my coffee with a slightly bigger pour of condensed milk and ice. Of course, in summer, hot coffee is out of the question - though sometimes my street food tour customers still prefer that.
Perhaps the best featyre of this cafe is the owner, a skinny old man who wanders up and own the line of customers sweeping up the discarded sunflower seed husks and collecting the money. His cafe is really a part of old Hanoi, I guess and that's reason enough to come back again and again.
Cafe Anh
70 Nguyen Du - Hanoi