Hanoi in the autumn season is associated with the flavor of green rice or “Com” (cốm) and the typical dishes from Com such as fresh rice, sticky rice, cake, sweet soup, or fried grounded pork with Com. 

Every visitor to Hanoi to Hanoi in the autumn or those living in the city are recommended to try savoring the typical dishes made from Com.

Fresh Com

Delicious fresh rice has thin, soft and chewy flexible seeds. Fresh Com is even more palatable if accompanied with banana. Fresh Com is usually made from young sticky rice harvested at the beginning of the season, which is soft and fragrant.

Com, green rice is one of the must-try street foods in Hanoi. Photo: infonet

The image of street vendors selling fresh rice wrapped in lotus leaves is an iconic image of Hanoi in the autumn. A handful (about 100g) of fresh fragrant Com costs about VND15,000 (US$0.64)-VND20,000 (US$0.86).

The visitor can buy fresh rice at street corner or visit the Vong village, where the best Com is made twice a year based on two summer and winter crops.

Sweetened green rice soup 

Che com – sweetened green rice sweet soup is a tasty combination of green rice and coconut, and a popular delicacy in Hanoi that visitors should not miss when visiting Hanoi in the autumn.

A few shops Hanoi sell the soup and to enjoy this dish, the visitor can visit a shop in Gia Ngu street. Each cup of the green rice soup costs about VND15,000 (US$0.64)-VND20,000 (US$0.86).

Sweetened green rice soup. Photo: vietnamtours247

Stir-fried green rice

Sweet sticky rice and stir-fried rice are a couple that are popular with customers on the days of Hanoi’s autumn. Stir-fried green rice has Hanoi's special flavor. Mixed with coconut fiber, it becomes an appetizing dish.

Though being simply cooked, the dishes are specialties of Hanoi with an unforgettable taste. Fresh rice is stir-fried with sugar, grated coconut, then wrapped in lotus leaves.  

Green rice cake

Green rice cake. Photo: Vietravel

Green rice cake is a traditional dish and associated with Hanoi’s cuisine. This is an indispensable gift for the proposal ceremony of Vietnamese (or anywhere) cumbersome wedding process.  Green rice is ground till it become a patty, then it is stuffed with coconut and green beans and finally wrapped. The good Com cake is the cake which has moderate sweetness.

This cake is sold in many places in Hanoi but Hang Than street is where the best Com cakes are made. Making Com cake is traditional, long-standing craft of dwellers on this street.

Cha Com, Vietnamese pork sausage with green rice. Photo: Blogevivatour