Day three was all about sweet treats and drinks. Southern Vietnam sits close to the Mekong Delta, where tropical fruit is everywhere. Coconut, mango, jackfruit and all kinds of bright, sweet flavours show up across drinks and desserts. You can taste that in the way the South eats and drinks. Things often run a little sweeter here, and today made that clear.

That sweetness is not one-note. It is balanced by ice, bitterness, salt, texture, herbs, fruit and cream. The drinks feel playful but still deeply rooted in place. They suit the heat, the pace and the street culture. You want something cold, refreshing and quick, but also something with character.

For HOP, this was one of the most exciting parts of the trip. Drinks and desserts are where Vietnam has so much to say, and where there is still so much for UK guests to discover.

We started with Vietnamese coffee. Strong, dark, proper rocket fuel. The traditional style uses robusta coffee, slowly brewed through a small metal phin filter. The result is intense, almost chocolatey, and then often softened with sweetened condensed milk.

Coffee arrived in Vietnam through the French in the 19th century, but Vietnam made it completely its own. Condensed milk became part of the story because fresh milk was not always easy to access. Over time, that practical solution became one of the signatures of Vietnamese coffee culture.

What we loved most was how inventive the coffee scene has become. Black coffee, white coffee, egg coffee, salted coffee, coconut coffee – each one has its own mood and moment. This was not just a drink to us. It became a whole area of inspiration for HOP.

We also tried a lot of bright, refreshing fruit teas. You see them everywhere. Cold, colourful, full of tropical fruit and often served with flavoured jellies inside. That texture was something we kept coming back to. It changes the whole experience of the drink.

It is not quite bubble tea, and it is not just juice. It sits somewhere in its own world – fresh, sweet, chewy, cold and fun. That gave us a lot to think about for drinks development. Could a HOP drink have more texture? Could it feel more Vietnamese, more playful, more connected to what we saw in Saigon?

That is the kind of question the trip was designed to open up. Not every idea becomes a menu item, but every idea teaches you something.

The dessert highlight was a steamed pandan cake, almost fluorescent green, served inside a deep-fried sesame bun. It was unusual in the best way. Soft, fragrant, crisp, sweet and warm, all at once. It reminded us that Vietnamese desserts are often about contrast as much as sweetness.

That thinking later fed into our work on chè. Chè is often described as a sweet soup, but that hardly explains it. It is more like a whole style of dessert, with many versions under one name. Fruit, jellies, beans, sticky rice, coconut milk, ice and syrup can all play a part.

What stayed with us was how refreshing it felt. Sweet, yes, but cold and light enough to make sense after food or in the middle of a hot day. That balance of colour, texture and freshness is exactly what we wanted to explore back home.

Day three helped shift our thinking on what a HOP drink or dessert could be. It does not have to be an afterthought. It can be part of the story. A way to show more of Vietnam’s creativity, climate, ingredients and café culture.

That is why Vietnamese coffee, coconut, pandan, jellies and fruit became such a big part of the Diary to Dish work that followed. The ideas began in Saigon, but they did not stay there. They came home with us and started turning into things people could taste.

Before this trip, it would have been easy to think of drinks as a supporting act. Something alongside the main food. Saigon changed that quickly. Coffee, fruit tea, coconut drinks and dessert-style cups all felt like part of the same food culture, not separate from it.

The climate explains some of that. Heat changes what you crave. Cold drinks, ice, fruit, cream and texture make sense when the city is moving around you. But it is not only about cooling down. It is about personality. A Vietnamese coffee can feel serious and strong. A coconut drink can feel soft and tropical. A jelly-filled fruit tea can feel playful. Each one has its own role in the day.

That gave us permission to think bigger about the HOP drinks range. A drink could tell a story just as clearly as a bowl or sandwich. It could introduce people to phin coffee, salted cream, coconut, pandan, jelly and condensed milk. It could be quick, accessible and still feel distinctly Vietnamese.

It also helped us understand how important refreshment is in Vietnamese food culture. A drink can cool you down, wake you up, lift a meal or act as a treat. That flexibility matters for HOP because it gives guests more reasons to visit beyond the usual lunch moment, whether they want coffee, something sweet or something cold on the move.

It also reminded us that sweetness in Vietnam is often clever rather than heavy. Condensed milk, coconut, fruit, jelly and ice can all make a drink or dessert feel indulgent, but the finish is still refreshing. That is the balance we wanted to learn from.

Watch Day 3 of The Vietnam Diaries for the sweet treats, strong coffee and bright drinks that shaped some of HOP’s most exciting new ideas.

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