Papaken, 35, from Japan, is a content creator who has been living in Hanoi for two years. Kazuki Matsumoto, known as Kiki, is a well-known Japanese blogger who lives and works in HCM City.

On their personal YouTube channel with hundreds of thousand of followers, the two men from Japan share their videos about tourism and food experiences during visits to cities and provinces in Vietnam.

Most recently, when Papaken visited HCM City, Kiki took him to a local restaurant on Co Giang street in district 1 to enjoy the famous ‘com tam’ (broken rice). This is a specialty and one of the most popular dishes of southerners.

Papaken said that he had once tried com tam in Hanoi, but still wanted to order the dish in HCM City, its original land.

According to Kiki, though the restaurant is not well known to tourists, it attracts many locals every day.

The two diners ordered servings of com tam with pork ribs and meat pies, plus ‘canh kho qua’ (bitter melon soup) stuffed with meat.

Papaken was surprised that the ‘com tam’ there was eaten with spoons and forks, rather than chopsticks. Kiki explained this the typical way of eating com tam by local diners.

Before enjoying the dish, Papaken soused sweet and sour fish sauce on the rice. Kiki said diners can dip it in the sauce, too.

Tasting the first grilled ribs, Papaken exclaimed, “great.” He commented that the ribs had the perfect ratio of lean meat and fat, and were tender, fragrant and flavorful, not too dry.

“The broken rice here is really delicious because it has a smoky smell. As soon as you put rice into your mouth, you can feel the fragrant smell,” he said.

Kiki said the spices were absorbed evenly. 

Papaken said broken rice was also delicious, with rice grains soft and hot. The fish sauce was sweet and sour, suitable to his taste, and the meat pie delicious.

The man was also impressed with the flavor of bitter melon soup and was surprised that it was not bitter, but had a rich taste of the broth.

He was happy with all the food he ordered, praising that this was the most delicious com tam he had ever eaten.

Thao Trinh