ĐÊM Speakeasy

Da Nang has a lot of hidden bars now, and they are all hidden in more or less the same way. So the door is not the story here, even though the door is genuinely hard to find: dark wood, no sign, and a small gold bell.

What is different is what happens once you are through it. The bartenders here build each drink around an emotion or a memory rather than around a spirit, and the ingredients come out of a Vietnamese kitchen instead of a European one. Star anise. Coriander. Chilli. Lime. Those turn up in the glass, not beside it.

Đêm means night, and the room is built for one. Low light, arched alcoves behind the bar, a red curtain, candles on the tables. In their own words there are no rushed orders, no crowded counters and no fluorescent lights.

It opens at four in the afternoon, which is early for a bar like this, and it does not close until three in the morning. That is an eleven hour night, and it means you can arrive before dinner or long after it and find the same room.

On An Thuong 6, in the middle of the An Thuong quarter, where most people walk past it.