re: Exploring the food culture in Vietnam beyond pho

For lunch, I’m trying is Com Tam Ba Ghien. This place is on the Bib Gourmand Michelin food guide. Most people know of the Michelin star system. But the Bib Gourmand is a poor man’s version of that system, offering good food for an affordable price.

Com Tam(broken rice) was historically considered peasant food. Broken grains of rice leftover from milling were used by the lower class because whole long grains were too expensive. Over time, com tam became a socially accepted and a delicacy. Seems like this is a common theme across all cultures. From red beans and rice in the US’s deep south to shepard’s pie in the UK. Poor people making the best of what they have.

I did not visit the com tam shop and because I was still tired from my flight. I had it delivered to my hotel. But here is a Google image of the front of the shop.


Here’s the to go box. It was 95k or $3.80 which is a lot considering the normal cost of this plate at other places is around 35k or $1.40.



Overall very good. Rice, fried runny egg, and fish sauce was on point. My only complaint is that the pork chop could’ve been juicier. Maybe if I ate it the shop that would’ve been the case.