Trạm Xế: the repair garage people walk into to drink beer

From the street, this place looks more like an auto repair shop than a beer bar. Rusty corrugated metal walls. Black steel frames. A name sign with cut-out, glowing letters like a garage sign. Only when the string lights come on and you see the wooden tables and chairs packed with people do you realize it's all intentional.

Trạm Xế is located at 9 Lê Văn Duyệt, on the east bank of the Han River, on a stretch of road far quieter than the beer streets over in Hải Châu. The shop opened in late August 2024 and describes itself with four words written right on its sign: local industrial vibe. That means it's deliberately raw, deliberately leaving the steel and corrugated metal exposed, deliberately not laying glossy tiles.

What makes it different from most beer gardens in Da Nang

It's not the space — this city has no shortage of beer gardens with string lights and greenery. The difference is the beer. The beer glasses here are printed with the Five Elements logo, that is, Ngu Hanh craft beer, brewed right here in Da Nang. While many garden beer spots only have canned beer and mass-produced draft beer, at Trạm Xế you can order dark, golden, and red beers from a local brewery — and drink them from a glass mug with a handle, not a plastic cup.

For those who are used to drinking craft beer, that's reason enough to go. For those who aren't, this is the easiest place to try it: a casual beer-joint atmosphere, wooden tables, grill platters, and none of that "bar" vibe that makes people hesitant.

What to eat?

The menu is Vietnamese-style drinking food, nothing that tries too hard to be fancy. For big groups there's the seafood hotpot: a platter of shrimp, squid, fish and clams laid out ready, a pot of red broth set in the middle of the table, and you add things in as you go. For smaller groups, order individual dishes: grilled pork jaw bones to slowly gnaw on pair well with dark beer, crispy fried salted pork knuckle is for those who love crunchy skin, and Thai spicy ribs are perfect if you want bold flavors to keep the beer flowing. We have pepper-braised rabbitfish for anyone who wants a rice dish in the middle of a drinking session.

None of these dishes are unfamiliar to the people of Da Nang. What makes them special is that they're made with care and served on the right kind of tray, in the right kind of pot — with no attempt to "elevate" them with white plates and decorative greens.

Seating

Most of the tables are outdoors, under a corrugated metal roof and strings of lights, opening straight onto the street. Sitting there, you can watch the traffic go by and see people strolling along the river — a sidewalk-style seat, but with proper chairs and a roof overhead. Inside, there's a more enclosed area for rainy days. Thick wooden tables, zinc buckets for ice, and paper napkins set right on the table, plus an electric oil-style lamp at every table: all the furnishings belong to that same rusty color palette.

The restaurant is located near the river, so on nights when Da Nang sets off fireworks, you can watch them right from your seat here without having to push your way through the crowds on the embankment. That's a detail worth remembering if you happen to visit during the mid-year fireworks festival season.

Who it's suitable for

Groups of 4–8 friends who want to sit for a long time, talk loudly, and order hotpot and grilled dishes. People who love craft beer but aren't keen on bars. Those living over in Sơn Trà or An Hải who don't want to cross the bridge to go out drinking. For couples, it's a bit noisy — this place was made for the clinking of glasses, not for whispers.

If you want to compare it with another Japanese-style beer garden in Hoà Xuân, there's this post. And if you're wondering where to go in Da Nang in the evening in general, it's here.

Trạm Xế isn't a place for exploring cuisine. It's a place to sit with your friends under a corrugated tin roof pretending to be a workshop, drinking beer brewed just a few kilometers away.

Photo: Trạm Xế Beer Garden.