Lam rice – A dish that represents the essence of Sapa cuisine

1What is Sapa Lam Rice? Origin of Lam rice dish

Lam rice is a dish originating from some ethnic groups such as Nung, Thai, Dao,… This is a dish created by this ethnic group to save when going to the fields or on long days of hunting on the mountain. mountain. To prepare food, they carry bamboo tubes containing pre-soaked rice, then, when they reach a place with a water source, they just use spring water to cook rice. After adding water, they will take banana leaves and stuff them, put this bamboo tube in the fire and wait. After the rice is cooked, they enjoy it with sesame salt.

Lam rice is cooked from bamboo tubes, extremely fragrant, crispy on the outside, soft and flexible on the inside, combined with delicious sesame salt, extremely attractive. The dish is simple but provides you with a nutritious, energetic and extremely delicious meal. This is an extremely suitable dish for long trips, camping in the forest or hunting. Just bring a bamboo tube containing rice, when going into the forest, use spring water to cook and you will have a complete meal. perfect.

2How to make Lam rice is extremely simple

2.1 Prepare slide tubes

The bamboo tube must be cut from fresh, young bamboo trees and still have the bamboo membrane, this is an important part that helps when cooking rice, the water will not escape, thus absorbing into the rice extremely deliciously. A small tip is that you should choose the piece in the middle so the tube will be soft and thin, and the rice will cook quickly and evenly. After cutting, cut off one end of the slide tube.

2.2 Make bamboo rice

To make Lam rice delicious, soft and flexible, you should soak the sticky rice for about 2 hours in advance. Then, wash it thoroughly, take it out, drain it and put it in a bamboo tube. Then, add water until it just covers the rice, add a little salt to make the rice dish more flavorful.

Cover the top with a banana leaf and put it on the stove to grill. You should grill the bamboo tube over low heat and turn continuously so that the rice is cooked evenly.

To check the doneness of the rice, you can use your hand to gently press the bamboo stem. The softer you press, the more cooked the rice will be. When the rice is completely cooked, carefully remove it to a plate.

2.3 How to enjoy lam rice

After the rice is cooked, you firmly press the bamboo tube to push the rice down. Then, use a knife to gently cut and separate the bamboo tube and carefully take out the rice. Then, use a knife to cut the rice into pieces.

Lam rice can be dipped with sesame salt and grilled meat and it is absolutely delicious.

3TOP 10 delicious bamboo rice restaurants you cannot miss when coming to Sapa

3.1 Enjoy famous lam rice at Red Dao

Address: 4B Thac Bac, Sapa, Lao Cai

Opening hours: 08:00 – 22:30

Price ranges: 80,000 – 220,000 VND

A bamboo rice place that you must definitely try when you arrive in Sapa is Red Dao. The reason Red Dao is always in the top restaurants with delicious lam rice dishes is because the chef here won the 2014 Golden Spoon runner-up award. Therefore, in addition to the traditional lam rice and sticky rice flavor that you know, the rice Lam Lam at Red Dao also adds meat and dried onions, making the already delicious dish even more irresistible.

3.2 Eat delicious bamboo-tube rice at Cat Cat village

Address: Cat Cat village, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province

Reference price: 40,000 VND – 50,000 VND

Not only famous for the majestic natural scenery of the Northwest mountains and forests, Cat Cat village also attracts many tourists because it sells many Lao Cai specialties and bamboo-tube rice is one of them. There are quite a few stalls selling bamboo-tube rice in Cat Cat, so you can freely choose and try the feeling of eating hot rice in the cold nature. To increase the experience, you can also rent traditional costumes of the H’Mong ethnic group and cook bamboo-tube rice with the people.

3.3 Cau May Restaurant

Address: 92 Ngu Chi Son, Sapa, Lao Cai

Opening hours: 10:00 – 22:00

Price ranges: 100,000 – 500,000 VND

The bamboo rice dishes at Cau May restaurant are quite delicious and beautiful. Accordingly, the large, round tubes of bamboo are separated from the bamboo, grilled over fire until the outer shell is scorched, then presented on a tray lined with banana leaves. The sweet aroma of sticky rice combined with the salty taste of sesame salt here will conquer all diners’ tastes.

3.4 A Quynh Restaurant

Address: 15 Thach Son, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province

Service hours: 07:00 – 22:30

Reference price: 100,000VND – 300,000VND

Another place where you can try Lao Cai-style bamboo rice is A Quynh restaurant. The bamboo tubes are separated from the bamboo tubes and grilled to a beautiful golden brown. In addition to lam rice, when you come here, you can also eat the dish that made A Quynh’s name, thang co – a specialty of the H’Mong people. The thang co dish at A Quynh is cooked with many herbs such as star anise, cinnamon, mac Khen, thang co leaves,… good for health.

3.5 Hoa Phuong Restaurant

Address: Group 7C Ham Rong, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province.

Service hours: 09:00 – 23:00

Reference price: 100,000VND – 300,000VND

Lam rice at Hoa Phuong restaurant is not simply a traditional soft rice roll. Here, the rice rolls will be grilled over low heat until the outer layer is golden and crispy before being given to diners to enjoy. Therefore, when you bite the rice roll, you will feel the crispy taste on the outside but still retain the sweet and sticky taste of the sticky rice inside.

3.6 Eat luxurious bamboo rice at The Hill Station Signature Restaurant

Address: 37 Fansipan, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province

Service hours: 07:00 – 23:00

Reference price: 150,000VND – 300,000VND

The familiar dish of Lam rice on the street suddenly turns into “lemongrass” when you come to The Hill Station Signature Restaurant. This is a luxurious classic-style restaurant with warm colors, magical yellow lights and melodious music. This is truly a perfect place for couples who both want to eat bamboo rice, a Lao Cai specialty, and also want to have a romantic date in a romantic space.

3.7 Hai Lam Restaurant

Address: 72 Luong Dinh Cua, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province.

Service hours: 08:00 – 22:30

Reference price: 200,000VND – 500,000VND

The special thing at Hai Lam restaurant is that the tubes of bamboo rice are not brown and white as usual but have a beautiful shiny purple color. When you come here, the tubes of bamboo rice, in addition to giving you a full meal, also help you take “super virtual” photos with outstanding purple colors.

3.8 New Market Food Court

Address: Fansipan, Sapa town, Lao Cai province

Service hours: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m

Reference price: 10,000VND – 200,000VND

A place that integrates a variety of Sapa specialties is Cho Moi area. When visiting this market, in addition to enjoying the fragrant tubes of bamboo-tube rice fragrant with sesame salt, visitors can also enjoy walking around the stalls to see and choose a variety of foods from grilled hot pot to regional fruits. high with extremely reasonable prices.

3.9 Sapa barbecue area

Address: Cau May Street, Sapa town, Lao Cai province.

Reference price: 30,000VND – 110,000VND

Surely the name shows the characteristics of this market. This is a market specializing in hot, delicious grilled foods. However, lam rice is still loved by many people when they come here because the combination of grilled skewers and lam rice is extremely wonderful, awakening all taste buds and warming you in the cold weather.

3.10 National Highway 4D Food Court

Address: Highway 4D, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province

Service hours: 6:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m

Reference price: 80,000VND – 200,000VND

This is also one of the famous food markets for its diverse Northwest dishes with reasonable student prices. Here, visitors can immerse themselves in the cold weather of the high mountains, enjoy hot bamboo rice made directly with grilled skewers of all kinds.

Lam rice is a dish that shows many features of the spiritual and cultural life of ethnic minorities in the Northwest region. Although the dish is rustic, you can easily enjoy it in many places in Sapa, from roadside eateries to luxury restaurants, with new, rustic but extremely interesting flavors.