Cơm tấm
Saigon’s plate of broken rice with grilled pork chop — the city’s default lunch.
A plate of "broken" rice (fractured grains, originally the cheap by-product of milling) topped with a marinated grilled pork chop (sườn), often a steamed egg-and-pork loaf (chả trứng), shredded pork skin, and a small bowl of sweet fish sauce to pour over. The unofficial working lunch of Ho Chi Minh City.
How to eat it well
- Pour the entire small bowl of nước mắm over the rice — that is the seasoning, not a dip.
- The grilled pork chop (sườn) is the headline; pick a stall where you can smell the charcoal.
- A fried egg (ốp la) on top is the standard upgrade.
Where it’s best
Ho Chi Minh City, from morning until late at roadside grills with a charcoal cloud out front.
Built around grilled pork; not a vegetarian dish.
Make it at home
ModerateA weeknight-friendly grill once the chops are marinated.
- 1Marinate pork chops in minced lemongrass, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, and a little oil for a few hours (overnight is better).
- 2Cook jasmine rice — use broken rice if you can find it, but regular works fine.
- 3Grill the chops over charcoal or in a hot pan until caramelised and just cooked through on both sides.
- 4Make nước chấm: fish sauce, sugar, water, lime, garlic, and chilli, balanced sweet-sour.
- 5Plate the rice with the chop, a fried egg and some pickles if you like, and pour the nước chấm over the rice.
Eat next
A cool bowl of vermicelli, smoky grilled pork, herbs, and pickles you dress yourself.
Cá kho tộCaramelised clay-pot fishFish simmered in a clay pot with caramel and fish sauce until sticky and deep.
Chả cáTurmeric dill fishHanoi’s theatrical table-grilled fish with turmeric, dill, and a mountain of herbs.