In Tổ 1, Khu vực 9, Phường Trần Quang Diệu, inside Chả Ram Tôm Đất Hồng Hạnh, plate after plate of golden, crispy spring rolls sit lined up. Bite through the shell and the sweetness of land shrimp mixes with the aroma of pork belly.
Cross-confirmed by specialty retailers and travel content farms — a weak form of backing
After checking, no independent news coverage of this dish was found from VnExpress, Thanh Niên, Lao Động, or any official government site. The sources currently available are mostly specialty retail commerce sites (dacsanquynhon.net, thucphamgiaphuc.vn, quynhonme.vn, and others) and travel content farms (Green SM / Xanh SM, both under the same company with a high degree of overlap). Multiple retailers cross-confirm this as a specialty item commonly sold across Quy Nhơn City — weak backing, but not zero backing.
Important honest clarification: the claim of 'CNN's top 50 foods in the world' checks out as baseless — not to be trusted
An important honest clarification is needed: multiple specialty retail sites claim this dish 'once won a spot on CNN's top 50 foods in the world.' Checking this claim reveals it to be a misattribution — CNN's 2011 'World's 50 Best Foods' list included only two Vietnamese dishes, phở bò (Vietnamese beef noodle soup, ranked 28th) and gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls, ranked 30th). It did not include chả giò (fried spring rolls) or chả ram (Quy Nhơn's shrimp spring rolls). This cross-check is confirmed by a state outlet Tuổi Trẻ feature, 'Chả giò Việt Nam vào top 100 món khai vị ngon nhất thế giới' (referring to a separate 2023 'appetizers' list — a different list from a different year than the 2011 'top 50 foods' list, and one that marketing sites frequently conflate with it). This guide honestly notes that the CNN claim checks out as baseless and doesn't repeat or endorse it. This dish uses land shrimp (tôm đất, a small shrimp from brackish habitats) as its main ingredient, making up roughly 80% of the filling, paired with a little pork belly and shallot, wrapped in rice paper, and double-fried for a crisp-outside, chewy-inside bite.
How to Eat It Authentically
- The double-fried shell is crispest eaten hot — it softens once it cools.
- A high proportion of land shrimp is the key to this dish's sweetness — check whether the filling feels substantial.
- For a souvenir, look for the vacuum-packed version, easier to carry and keep.
An Honest Look at This Dish's Marketing Claims
- The claim of 'once winning a spot on CNN's top 50 foods in the world' checks out, on verification, as a misattribution with no basis in fact.
- CNN's 2011 list included only phở bò and gỏi cuốn from Vietnam — no spring rolls of this kind made the cut.
- This guide's current backing comes mostly from specialty retailers and content farms — weak but not zero backing, honestly labeled as such.
Bite into a crispy land-shrimp spring roll and the crunchy shell gives way to the substantial sweetness of land shrimp inside. This dish deserves to be known on its own merits, without needing a baseless 'CNN top 50 foods in the world' title to prop it up — calling out the marketing misattribution is the real respect this Quy Nhơn specialty deserves.