Trying the dish that was once criticized as "the worst in Vietnam", American chef says he wants to eat it again

(Dan Tri) - Having been unimpressed the first time he tried porridge, American chef Chad Kubanoff said he has completely changed his mind, to the point that every time he sees a porridge shop, he... wants to stop by.

Recently, Chad Kubanoff - an American chef living in Ho Chi Minh City, who owns a YouTube channel about cuisine with nearly 130,000 followers - posted a video recording the process of enjoying "a special breakfast dish in Vietnam that makes many foreign diners apprehensive". That is the dish of pork intestine porridge.

Chad Kubanoff said that when he first ate it, he found this dish strange, with many ingredients mixed together that seemed unrelated. However, after a while, when talking about congee, Chad Kubanoff craved it again. He added that the first time he ate this dish was with wine.

In May, Taste Atlas - a website dubbed the " world food map", providing detailed information about dishes and drinks around the world, including expert reviews and user votes - listed congee in the list of "The best congee dishes in Asia".

Chad Kubanoff enjoys porridge in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Screenshot).

Taste Atlas describes porridge with pig intestines as a Vietnamese dish that combines pork bone broth, porridge, and pork offal such as liver, kidney, spleen, intestines, or heart.

"The dish is always served warm, accompanied by sliced offal and often fried breadsticks, scallions and dried chillies, bean sprouts, lime, raw vegetables, fish sauce and ginger are often served on the side. Blood balls can be added as desired," the site describes.

Previously, Taste Atlas caused controversy when it listed congee as one of "the worst dishes in Vietnam", based on votes from a group of international users.

This ranking quickly received mixed reactions from the Vietnamese culinary community, because congee has long been a familiar dish, closely associated with the daily lives of many generations of Vietnamese people.

The porridge portion enjoyed by the American chef (Photo: Screenshot).

Many people believe that such assessments do not really understand local culinary culture, especially dishes using offal - which is not popular in many Western countries.

The place Chad Kubanoff chose to eat porridge this time was a restaurant located on Nguyen Luong Bang Street (Tan My Ward, Ho Chi Minh City). The male YouTuber's first impression was that the restaurant was spacious and airy, suitable for a breakfast to start the day.

Chad Kubanoff and his wife ordered two bowls of hot porridge, a plate of boiled offal, and a glass of wine. He introduced that the porridge had a slightly special color because it was cooked with pig's blood. The bowl contained large intestines, small intestines, liver, cartilage...

Before starting to eat, Chad Kubanoff ordered a plate of crispy fried dough sticks to go with the porridge. He carefully added bean sprouts, herbs, basil, chopped onions, fried dough sticks and a spoonful of chili fish sauce to the bowl of porridge to enhance the flavor. "The flavor is strong, the aroma is indescribable, there is something very unique," said Chad Kubanoff.

After the video was posted, many Vietnamese viewers left comments of delight when seeing an American chef eat congee very naturally, adding vegetables and seasoning it with fish sauce and chili in the Vietnamese style.

Porridge is served with a plate of pig offal (Photo: Screenshot).

He commented that the small intestine was chewy and slightly fatty, while the sausage that his wife especially liked was softer, with blood, roasted peanuts and chopped spices inside. "It's like a sausage, but it's a sausage stuffed with pig's blood," he said.

Chad Kubanoff said that at first glance, the ingredients in the porridge seem to be different, but after eating, it makes sense. The liver is soft, the cartilage is crispy, each has its own flavor but "doesn't look out of place."

While eating, his wife - a Vietnamese woman - said that congee with offal is a dish she has eaten since she was a child in the countryside, associated with many childhood memories.

A meal for two cost 153,000 VND. Chad Kubanoff said this wasn't the best porridge restaurant he'd ever tried, but it was still worth returning to. "I want to try some other dishes like stir-fried intestines with pickled cucumber, fish noodles, and meatball noodles...", he said.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/thu-mon-tung-bi-che-te-nhat-viet-nam-dau-bep-my-noi-muon-an-lan-nua-20250729155133784.htm