Com Ga Hoi An and Tam Ky — Rice Cooked in the Chicken Stock
The rice is yellow not because turmeric was stirred in. It is yellow because it was cooked in the stock the chicken came out of.
This page is translated from Vietnamese. Prices and opening hours are checked against Vietnamese sources — see the Vietnamese version for the most recent update.
Chicken rice is a familiar lunch across the Quảng region, and it comes with two names side by side: cơm gà Hội An and cơm gà Tam Kỳ. Both appeared around the 1950s.
Why the rice is yellow
Many people assume the colour comes from turmeric powder stirred into the pot. Not quite.
The rice is cooked entirely in the stock the chicken was poached in, with chicken fat and fresh turmeric added. So the colour and the smell come from the bird itself; the turmeric only helps.
This is where a careful place separates from a quick one: a lazy kitchen cooks rice in plain water and mixes in turmeric powder — it looks yellow but the grains are dry and there is no richness behind them.
Two names, two strengths
Tam Kỳ has long been known for raising good chickens — free-range birds with firm, sweet meat. The strength of cơm gà Tam Kỳ is the bird.
Hoi An is stronger on method and presentation: rice cooked in stock, chicken hand-torn and tossed with onion and Vietnamese coriander, plus pickles.
Many Hoi An places also bring a small bowl of sauce braised from the chicken liver and giblets. Locals pour it, along with chilli jam, straight over the plate and mix everything together rather than eating each part separately.
First-timers often keep the plate tidy and eat it in sections — which throws away half the point.
Hand-torn, not chopped
The poached chicken is torn by hand, not chopped into pieces.
Tearing keeps the grain of the meat and lets it take seasoning better — the same reason eel is torn rather than sliced in súp lươn Vinh.
The torn meat is tossed with thinly sliced onion and Vietnamese coriander, seasoned with salt, pepper and fish sauce.
What comes with it
- Pickles — papaya and carrot
- Chilli jam or chilli sauce
- A small bowl of broth from the poaching stock
- The onion and coriander already in the chicken
Where to eat it
There are long-established places inside Hoi An old town, and in Tam Kỳ as well.
This is a lunch dish. Many places close once they sell out.
Other dishes in the area
Cao lầu · bánh mì Hội An · Hoi An wontons · Cẩm Nam corn sweet soup.
Specialties used in this dish
Mắm nêm Nhựt Hoàng đặc biệt – chai 500ml The special pre-mixed bottle — open and dip, no blending needed. The taste that goes with Đà Nẵng pork rice-paper rolls. 75.000₫ 
Nước mắm Nhĩ Nhựt Hoàng – chai 1 lít The first drip drawn from the fermenting barrel — the highest protein grade, amber-brown, gently aromatic. 110.000₫ Prices are in Vietnamese đồng.
Food
- Cao Lau — the Dish That Cannot Be Made Anywhere ElseSame recipe, same cook, but take it out of Hoi An and the noodles fail. The reason is the well water and the wood ash.
- Banh Mi Hoi An — a Smaller Roll, Mixed Fillings and a House SauceIt goes by the same name, but the roll in Hoi An is smaller, the crust thinner, and what made its reputation is a sauce each shop keeps to itself.
- Hoi An Wontons — a Chinese Dish That Changed to Vietnamese TasteSame name as Cantonese wontons, but the filling, the broth and the way they are eaten have all shifted. The fried version is close to unique to Hoi An.