Cơm Tấm Ba Ghiền (Broken Rice) @ Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam]

Com Tam is said to be one of Vietnamese top ten dishes but its origin has a sad story behind it as the name meant broken rice; an inferior quality, fractured rice favored by poor farmers when faced with a bad harvest. 

Whatever the case, Cơm Tấm is my very first meal in the pearl of the far east (Ho Chi Minh City that is) and the most famous in the city was said to be Cơm Tấm Ba Ghiền! Wanting to beat the usual mealtime crowd, we took a grab over right after we cleared the immigration at the airport.

Absolutely have no idea what the words are although from the display, it appeared to be similar to economical rice stalls in Singapore, where you pick and choose your ingredients. 

However, the menu on the wall suggested that they were sold in set format. Good thing about the wall menu would be the pictures and a simple English translation. hm.... which one should we choose? Let's have the Great Kon recommendation! 

Timing: about 3.30pm. Crowd was thin with plenty of seats. Nothing much about the eatery; like our Singapore local coffee shop with no air-conditioning, and decked out with homogenous foldable metal tables and red, plastic stools. 

Nevertheless, tissue was still provided for free for diners! Singapore's dining establishments should follow suit and adopt such good policy, especially when it's the law for us to return our trays and used crockery at coffee shops and hawker centre.

Cơm Tấm Sườn Bì Ốp La - our order which is literally broken rice with pork rib, pork skin and fried egg, garnished with cucumbers, my favorite pickled carrot and radish, and a bowl of legendary sauce! 

Great marination for the barbecued pork rib with a bit of charred bits; it was a bit tough but thankfully, the flavor within was still nice. To me, this was pretty generous; about half a slab of pork ribs on each of our plate! 

I have no special affection for the pork skin; it's more a bland tasting jellyfish we would normally have from Chinese banquets. Frankly, I was expecting something similar to braised pork or even crispy pork lard.

It's a must to add the sauce for that additional sweet spiciness and the best combination was to have a spoonful of sauce-soaked rice, with meat, egg and a few slices of the pickled vegetables! Delicious! 

Weirdly, my fellow travel mates didn't clean up the plate like I did! Either I had a great appetite or the pork rib was really too much for them. On a final note, the poor quality rice tasted pretty alright for me!

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Address

84 Đặng Văn Ngữ, Phường 10, Phú Nhuận, 

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Pricing

Cơm Tấm Sườn Bì Ốp La - 99,000 Dong

Additional Information

Drink menu as above. My favorite drink in HCMC would definitely be iced Vietnamese coffee and this Tra Da (like unsweetened iced green tea) is a close second. 

Click here for my 6 Days Itinerary in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) - Pearl of the Far East @ Vietnam