Sometimes, people feel tired of meals served with four or five dishes every day. So they want to find something strange to arouse their tastes. To a lot of Saigon food lovers, Com Tam (broken rice) is a good alternative

People living in Sai Gon can eat Com Tam any time, in the morning, afternoon or even at night. m Tam is usually served by street vendors who have an extremely effective way to attract customers with the fantastic smell of the grilled pork. No one can refuse the good smell coming from the street side and spreading through each alley nearby.   

The reason why  the dish is popular in daily life of local residents because of its simplicity to cook using fractured rice grain. This kind of rice is very cheap in Vietnam, even sellers can rub rice till it getting broken.This makes Com Tam is quite different from Vietnamese meals prepared with normal rice. It is usually served with grilled pork (either ribs or shredded) plus a Vietnamese dish called bì (thinly shredded pork skin) over broken rice. Grilled pork is considered as one of main elements create an interesting plate of Com Tam. Meat is often blended with sugar, salt, mononatri glutamat, garlic, onion.... Some people add soy sauce or sesame oil when grilling meat to make wonderful smell and saffron color. Essentially, Vietrnamese like to eat grilled foods. So that if you have an excelent meat, you will attract lots of customers without any advertisement. The rice and meat are served with various vegetable pickles, along with, omelet or grilled chopped meat.

Typically restaurants will serve this popular dish with a small bowl of sauce as well as a small bowl of soup broth or vegetables.                                

In Com Tam, the important thing decides how much people enjoy it is the dipping sauce which is usually served with.  A marvelous small bowl of sauce contents more 70 percents success of dish. This is a secret recipe that distinguishes a good broken rice vendor from the others . Some of them boil fish sauce with sugar, others mix coconut milk and sauce till the mixture becoming condensed.

here is how to make Com Tam:

Where to eat ?

Com Tam Cali Restaurants:

125 Nguyen Chi Thanh, Ward 2, District 3

Com Tam Thuan Kieu:

137 A-B Thuan Kieu street.