The 0 to 3 Spice Scale at a Vietnamese Restaurant: Medium
Level 0 no chilli, 1 mild, 2 medium, 3 hot. Which dishes can change level and which carry the chilli in the broth. The twelve dishes with heat at Bếp Rơm.
At Bếp Rơm, “medium” is level 2 on a 0 to 3 scale, and five dishes on the menu sit there. Twelve of our 31 dishes have heat at level 1 or above; the other 19 are level 0. The scale is our kitchen’s own, not a standard for Vietnamese food, so “medium” at another restaurant may mean something else.
The four levels
| Level | Name | Dishes | Which |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Not spicy | 19 | Beef in betel leaf, honey-grilled pork chop, pork belly braised in coconut water, bánh xèo (sizzling rice-flour pancake), steamed rice, and every dish not in the three rows below |
| 1 | Mild | 6 | Lotus stem salad, cá lóc nướng trui (snakehead grilled whole in burning straw), cá lóc kho tộ (snakehead braised in a clay pot), sour soup with snakehead, sour soup with mushroom and tofu, kho quẹt with boiled vegetables |
| 2 | Medium | 5 | Green mango salad with dried gourami, chilli-salt chicken, chilli-salt tiger prawns, chilli-salt straw mushrooms, lẩu mắm (fermented-fish hotpot) |
| 3 | Hot | 1 | Grilled squid with satế |
Only one dish reaches level 3: the grilled squid with satế, a lemongrass and chilli sauce we make in house.
The twelve dishes with heat
| Dish | Price | Level | Milder or chilli on the side |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gỏi ngó sen tôm thịt (lotus stem salad) | VND 148,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Cá lóc nướng trui | VND 358,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Cá lóc kho tộ (with one slice of bird chilli) | VND 178,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Canh chua cá lóc (sour soup with snakehead) | VND 158,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Canh chua nấm đậu hũ (sour soup, mushroom, tofu) | VND 88,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Kho quẹt rau luộc | VND 128,000 | 1 | Yes |
| Gỏi xoài khô cá sặc (fresh chilli) | VND 138,000 | 2 | Yes |
| Gà ta nướng muối ớt (chilli-salt chicken) | VND 268,000 | 2 | Yes |
| Tôm sú nướng muối ớt (chilli-salt prawns) | VND 248,000 | 2 | Yes |
| Nấm rơm nướng muối ớt (chilli-salt straw mushrooms) | VND 88,000 | 2 | Yes |
| Lẩu mắm (for 2 to 3) | VND 458,000 | 2 | No |
| Mực nướng sa tế (grilled squid with satế) | VND 218,000 | 3 | Yes |
What can change and what cannot
Eleven of the twelve can be made milder or have the chilli served on the side: you tell us when you order. The exception is the lẩu mắm. The chilli is in the broth and we cannot take it out of the pot. Your choice is to order it or not. A level 0 dish has nothing to lower.
The word “medium” means different things to different people, so for a whole table put it in numbers: “level 1 at most” is clearer than “medium”.
What to say when the table has children or someone who avoids heat
In step three of the reservation form, you set a spice level for the whole table, 0 to 3. The spicy dishes page has a filter by maximum level: choose 1 and the level 2 and 3 dishes that can be made milder still show, marked as such. If the table needs no chilli at all, say so when you order so the kitchen can look at the dips that come with a dish too.
The fastest check is the highest level in each mâm (a set of dishes laid for the whole table):
| Mâm | Highest level | Which dishes |
|---|---|---|
| Pair mâm (2 people) | 2 | Chilli-salt chicken |
| Family mâm (4) | 1 | Lotus stem salad, cá lóc nướng trui, sour soup with snakehead |
| Round mâm (6) | 1 | Lotus stem salad, cá lóc nướng trui, cá lóc kho tộ, sour soup with snakehead |
| Vegetarian mâm (4) | 2 | Chilli-salt straw mushrooms |
| Private room mâm (10) | 2 | Chilli-salt chicken, chilli-salt prawns |
The family and round mâm stop at level 1. The pair, vegetarian and private room mâm each have a level 2 dish; ask for the chilli on the side, or swap the dish at single prices.
From the grill: chilli salt and satế
The grill has four dishes with chilli salt or satế (chicken, prawns, straw mushrooms, squid), levels 2 to 3, and all can be made milder. The other four grilled dishes are level 0 or 1: beef in betel leaf, honey-grilled pork chop and grilled aubergine at level 0, cá lóc nướng trui at level 1.
How we do it at Bếp Rơm
The kitchen sets the level of each dish, and Mai Thanh Vân keeps that table together with the allergen table. Heat is taste, an allergy is something else: a level 0 dish is not free of allergens, and as the kitchen is shared we cannot promise there are no traces. The full guide to reading our menu is reading a menu when vegetarian, avoiding heat or allergic. For ordering with three generations at the table, see family restaurants in Saigon.
Updated 5 October 2026.
Dishes in this article
Free-range chicken with chilli salt
Half a free-range chicken rubbed with chilli, salt and lemongrass, grilled over wood, with lime leaf.
268,000 VNDMediumNone of the 9 allergen groups
Lẩu mắm hotpot (for 2 to 3)
A fermented gourami broth with snakehead, prawn, squid, pork belly, aubergine, field greens and fresh noodles.
458,000 VNDMediumFishShellfishMolluscs- The grill
Grilled squid with satế
Squid grilled over charcoal with our own lemongrass chilli satế, salt and lime to dip.
218,000 VNDHotMolluscsPeanut
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