There may be a shame inducing paucity of half-decent Vietnamese restaurants in this city of millions, but thankfully you can still stock up on that lovely Vietnamese coffee. And they do make lovely coffee don't they? The Laotian stuff is like tar mixed with crystal meth, but the Viet stuff is just perfect.

Anyhow, Hao Hao Coffee has been around for almost a year now and delivers a range of Viet coffees, as well as those funky little "top of the cup" percolators, to addresses throughout China. Luckily for Shanghai residents you can not only get next day kuai di service but also pay COD if you like (or use Pay Pal like the rest of the coffee impoverished mainland).

My order was delayed a little bit due to the holiday last Friday but it finally arrived safe, sound ready for mainlining. Make sure to have the correct amount of cash on hand as the kuai di man might not have change (hint hint).

And, once you have your fabulous coffee, brewed and in hand, why not consider whipping up a batch of Vietnamese Coffee Cup Cakes from the Cup Cake Blog, complete with condensed milk filling and topped with coffee dusted whipped cream. I havn't tried the recipe yet, but now that I have the coffee...