Our story
Sài Gòn by the sea.
How a family nail salon became a Vietnamese coffee house and kitchen on the New Brighton seafront. The slow-drip coffee, the broth, and the name we kept.
The name came from a nail salon. The coffee came from home.
Two letters.
M1 started as the family's nail salons. It is not a word and it never stood for anything. It was the name over the door, and the door was always open.
What people did not see was out the back. A phin, the small metal filter Vietnam brews its coffee through, dripping onto condensed milk between appointments. A pot of phở, the noodle soup, on since morning. The whole family eating together at one table once the last client had gone.
We kept the name because it was already ours. Everything else, we built.
The phin out back.
Vietnamese coffee is robusta, a strong, dark bean, dripped slowly through the phin and taken with sweet condensed milk. It is strong, it is unhurried, and it needs no machine.
That is the counter. Six phin coffees, and a proper espresso bar for the days you want one. Behind it, the kitchen that was always there: bánh mì, the Vietnamese baguette; phở; bún bò Huế, the spicy beef noodle soup from the middle of the country; and plates to share.
Coffee is what we are known for. Food is why you stay.
New Brighton.
Marine Point, Kings Parade. The sea on one side, the town on the other. We wanted glass, stone and light, and somewhere you could sit for ten minutes or an afternoon.
Sài Gòn by the sea, if you like. Or just a good coffee, looking out over the Irish Sea.
What we stand for
Our values
Warm.
Every cup is made for someone, not for a queue.
Minimal.
Two boards, one kitchen, nothing we cannot make properly.
Refined.
The same standard on the cup as on the plate.
Timeless.
A phin, a bowl, a table. It has worked for a century.
- 4 min
- one phin coffee, start to finish
- 24 h
- the beef broth, before it reaches a bowl
- 1 kg
- our Signature Blend, bagged to take home
- £0
- your first coffee, and your friend's
Keep reading
Learn the food. Then come and eat it.
Five short notes on the coffee, the broth, the baguette, and how to order at M1 Coffee & Co like you have been before.