Nem Rán and Chả Giò: Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls

Nem rán in the north, chả giò in the south — the same dish under two names, and one of the dishes Vietnamese cooks point to with the most pride. Fried rice-paper rolls of pork, mushroom and glass noodles, eaten with lettuce, herbs and fish-sauce dip.

What it is

A filling of minced pork (sometimes crab), chopped wood-ear and shiitake mushrooms, soaked glass noodles (miến), grated carrot, onion and egg, rolled tight in a sheet of rice paper that has been dipped in water (or, in many southern kitchens, in beer or coconut water for extra crispness). Deep-fried until golden, served with a plate of lettuce, perilla and mint and a bowl of nước chấm.

The names

In the north, nem rán ("fried roll") is the standard term. Nem Sài Gòn specifically refers to the southern-style version when sold in the north. In the south, chả giò is the word, and a "nem" usually means a fermented pork sausage instead — leading to occasional confusion at restaurants run by transplants.

Where to try it

In Hanoi, Quán Ăn Ngon at 18 Phan Bội Châu does textbook nem rán for around 80,000 VND a plate. Nem Vuông Cua Bể on Tô Hiến Thành is the place for Hải Phòng-style square crab rolls. In HCMC, Quán Ngon at 160 Pasteur in District 1 makes chả giò the same way most southern households do. Bánh Xèo 46A does chả giò as a side to its crepes.

How to eat it

Place a roll on a lettuce leaf with herbs, wrap it like a tiny burrito, dip in nước chấm, eat. The wrapping matters: an unwrapped nem dipped in sauce is fine but you miss the temperature and texture contrast. At a sit-down restaurant the rolls usually arrive already cut into bite-sized pieces.

Regional variations

Northern nem rán is smaller, with pork and a fastidious mix of vegetables; the wrapper is bánh đa nem (a smaller, thinner rice paper) and crisps to a fine shell. Southern chả giò is larger, often includes prawn, sometimes uses thicker bánh tráng or wheat-flour spring-roll skins, and is greasier in the best sense. Hải Phòng's nem cua bể (square crab rolls) and Huế's smaller nem chua rán are local variants.

Honest take

A homemade nem rán at a Vietnamese family lunch on Tết is one of the great comfort foods of Asia. A restaurant nem at lunchtime, eaten with a beer and a stack of lettuce, is fine but unspectacular. The dish lives or dies on whether the rice paper has shattered properly when you bite it.

Related reading: Gỏi cuốn, Northern cuisine, Central and southern cuisine, Hanoi food guide, HCMC food guide.