Perfume River Staple · Baby Clam Rice
Cơm Hến
Photo: Tonbi ko / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
A single bowl can carry more than a dozen separate components — rice, clams, clam broth, herbs, peanuts, pork crackling, and more — assembled from a food once considered too humble for anyone but the poor.
Cold rice is topped with tiny stir-fried river clams, crushed peanuts, fried pork skin, herbs, and chili, then finished with a ladle of the clams' own cooking broth poured tableside. It's named for Cồn Hến, the small islet in the Perfume River where the clams are still harvested.
Why it's made this way: The dish is closely tied to Cồn Hến, the islet in the Perfume River that gives it its name and where its tiny river clams are traditionally sourced; it grew from an inexpensive local meal into one of Huế's most defended specialties.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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