Ask anyone who grew up in Ho Chi Minh City what they ate for breakfast this morning, and there’s a decent chance the answer is cơm tấm. Broken rice, a slab of charcoal-grilled pork chop, shredded pork skin, steamed egg meatloaf, pickled vegetables, and a small bowl of sweet-salty fish sauce poured over everything.
It started as a poor man’s meal. Broken rice grains were the leftovers of the milling process, considered too damaged to sell, so they went to farming families in the Mekong Delta. Somewhere along the way the city adopted the dish, added grilled pork, and turned it into the thing Saigon eats at 7 in the morning and again at 11 at night.
Here are five places worth the detour, with current hours, prices, and what to actually order at each one.
A note on addresses: Vietnam merged its administrative units in 2025, so ward and district names have changed. We list the new ward name first, with the old district in brackets, because that’s what Google Maps and taxi drivers still respond to.
1. CƠM TẤM BA GHIỀN — THE MICHELIN ONE
📍 84 Đặng Văn Ngữ, Phú Nhuận Ward (formerly Phú Nhuận District)
🕖 7:00 – 20:30 daily
💰 80,000 – 150,000 VND (~$3 – 5.80)
This is the only cơm tấm restaurant in Vietnam to make the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list, and it has held the spot every year since 2023, including the 2026 guide. The family has been grilling here since 1995.
The reason people come is the pork chop. It’s cut thick and wide — genuinely larger than the plate of rice underneath it — marinated in a house recipe with honey, garlic, and five-spice, then grilled over charcoal. One plate is enough for two people who aren’t especially hungry.
Be aware this is the priciest plate on this list apart from number three. The full combo with pork chop, shredded skin, egg meatloaf, fried egg, Chinese sausage, and pork meatball runs toward the top of that range. If you just want the famous part, order cơm sườn — pork chop only.
The trade-off: reviews are genuinely mixed on consistency. Some diners find the chop juicy, others find it dry, and the answer often depends on how busy the grill is. Go outside 11:30–13:00 and your odds improve.
2. CƠM TẤM MƯỜI — THE ALLEY ONE, AFTER DARK
📍 294/35 Xô Viết Nghệ Tĩnh, Thạnh Mỹ Tây Ward (formerly Bình Thạnh District)
🕔 17:00 – 23:00
💰 Roughly 50,000 – 80,000 VND (~$2 – 3)
Locals still call it Bà Mười. It sits about 200 metres down a narrow alley near the Hàng Xanh overpass, with no real signage, low plastic tables, and a permanent queue after 7pm. You find it by smell — fried shallots and grilling pork.
What sets it apart is the spread. Beyond the standard pork chop you’ll find braised pork with egg, xíu mại meatballs, braised fish, crispy roast pork belly, and fried chicken, all kept warm on the stove. The rice sits in a covered pot, so it arrives hot rather than lukewarm.
Every table gets complimentary iced tea, sliced cucumber, and a small bowl of crispy pork cracklings with free refills. Soup is ordered separately.
Two practical notes: it’s motorbike-access only down that alley, and reviewers consistently mention the place occasionally closes without warning. Have a backup.
3. CƠM TẤM NGUYỄN VĂN CỪ — THE EXPENSIVE FAMOUS ONE
📍 74 Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Cầu Ông Lãnh Ward (formerly District 1)
🕖 7:00 – 15:00
💰 160,000 – 200,000+ VND (~$6 – 7.70)
We’re including this one with a caveat, because a lot of listicles describe it as affordable and it very much isn’t. Open since 1989, this is widely considered the most expensive cơm tấm in Ho Chi Minh City. A pork chop plate is around 160,000 VND before extras, each add-on topping is roughly 10,000 VND, and a bowl of soup is about 50,000 VND.
The pork chop itself is excellent — thick, juicy, well-marinated, and closer in flavour profile to Korean grilled pork than most Saigon versions, which is part of why the restaurant is enormously popular with Korean visitors.
Whether it’s worth it depends on what you’re after. If you want the single best-executed pork chop in a central location and price isn’t the deciding factor, it delivers. If you want to understand what cơm tấm means to this city as an everyday meal, the other four on this list will tell you more for a quarter of the money.
Lunch service gets chaotic. Come before 11:00 or after 13:30.
4. QUÁN CƠM BÀ NĂM — THE BREAKFAST ONE
📍 34 Tân Canh, Tân Sơn Hòa Ward (formerly Tân Bình District)
🕕 From 6:00, sells out around 11:00 – 12:00
💰 35,000 – 50,000 VND (~$1.35 – 1.90)
A morning-only operation run by a group of older women, decorated in what can only be described as unchanged 1990s. Regulars have been coming for decades, and the woman working the counter reportedly remembers your usual order after about three visits.
The signature here is trứng kho lòng đào — an egg braised in the pork stewing liquid until the white is deeply savoury and the yolk is still soft and running. It’s uncommon; most places serve a plain fried egg. Ask for it by name.
Also worth requesting: cơm cháy, the crisped rice from the bottom of the pot. Order sườn, bì, chả, trứng lòng đào lấy cơm cháy and you’ll get the full experience for around 40,000 VND.
Bring cash — no cards. Prices aren’t posted on a board here, which is completely normal for a place this old, so just confirm the total when you order the way regulars do. And go early: by 10:30 the good stuff is usually gone.
5. CƠM TẤM BA HÁ — THE EGG MEATLOAF ONE
📍 389 Hưng Phú, Chánh Hưng Ward (formerly District 8)
🕓 16:00 – 18:30 (yes, really — a two-and-a-half hour window)
💰 Roughly 50,000 – 80,000 VND (~$2 – 3)
Over fifty years in business, well outside the tourist map, and open for barely two hours a day. The pork chop is solid but not the reason to come.
The reason is the chả trứng muối — steamed egg meatloaf topped with salted duck egg yolk, rich and dense and noticeably better than the standard version. The fried fish cake is the other thing regulars order. Between the two, you can build a plate that tastes nothing like the pork-chop-forward version most visitors know.
The rice is served properly hot and loose-grained, and service is fast even at peak. Parking costs a small fee.
The hours are the entire challenge. Arrive by 17:00 at the latest or you’re eating somewhere else.
HOW TO ORDER LIKE YOU’VE DONE THIS BEFORE
The building blocks are simple, and stacking them is how locals customise a plate:
- sườn — grilled pork chop
- bì — shredded pork skin with toasted rice powder
- chả — steamed pork and egg meatloaf
- trứng ốp la — fried egg
- lạp xưởng — Chinese sausage
- xíu mại — pork meatball in tomato sauce
- thập cẩm — everything on one plate
So cơm sườn bì chả trứng means broken rice with pork chop, pork skin, meatloaf, and a fried egg. Say it in that order and nobody will blink.
Pour the fish sauce over the whole plate, not on the side. Mix the pickled vegetables in. If there’s a bowl of crispy pork cracklings on the table, it’s free and you’re meant to eat it.
WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU PICK
If you have one meal: Ba Ghiền, for the story and the size of the thing, accepting you’re paying a premium for the Michelin sticker.
If you want the version locals eat: Cơm Tấm Mười after dark, or Bà Năm at breakfast.
If you’re hunting something you can’t get elsewhere: Ba Há’s salted egg meatloaf, hours permitting.
Prices listed are current as of August 2026 and shift over time — treat them as a guide rather than a menu.
Related Saigon Food Guides
- Saigon Street Food: 15 Dishes You Absolutely Must Try
- Saigon District 1 Street Food: A Local’s Walking Route (2026)
- 3 Days in Ho Chi Minh City Itinerary: A Poetic & Practical Guide
Which camp are you in: cơm tấm is a breakfast dish, or cơm tấm is a midnight dish? Because Saigon has never fully agreed on this one.
