--- title: "The Bếp Rơm Story: Straw Fire, Clay Pot, One Table" description: "A straw fire catches fast and smells of smoke, like a Southern country kitchen. The meal stays three dishes: one grilled, one braised, one soup. Opened in 2024 in a Tân Định house." canonical: https://nhahang.thenexova.cloud/en/story lang: en last-updated: 2026-10-05 --- # Bếp Rơm: why straw fire > A straw fire catches fast and smells of smoke, like a Southern country kitchen. The meal stays three dishes: one grilled, one braised, one soup. Opened in 2024 in a Tân Định house. Nguồn / Source: https://nhahang.thenexova.cloud/en/story A straw fire catches fast and smells of smoke, like a Southern country kitchen. The meal stays three dishes: one grilled, one braised, one soup. Opened in 2024 in a Tân Định house. Updated 5 Oct 2026 ![A rice field after harvest, round straw bales scattered along rows of golden stubble](/_astro/ing-straw.JCsu7Epy_2lMCHw.jpg) ## Why a straw fire Bếp Rơm is named for the country stove fired with rice straw: a quick flame, a smell of smoke, one meal cooked for the whole family. In our kitchen straw is what we use for cá lóc nướng trui (snakehead grilled whole in burning straw): a fish of about 800 g lies in burning straw, scales on, for around 18 minutes. Chicken, prawns and mushrooms are grilled over wood and coals at the fire counter. This is how our kitchen works; we do not claim it is how a whole region cooks or how long it has been done. The line “straw fire, clay pot, one shared table” describes what you can see in the kitchen: straw fire for the grill, clay pots for the braises, one mâm (a set of dishes laid for the whole table) for the table. ## A meal with three legs The menu is built around a Southern Vietnamese meal: one grilled dish, one braise to eat with rice, one bowl of soup, plus greens and plain rice. The family mâm for four, VND 890,000, is lotus stem salad with prawn and pork, cá lóc nướng trui, pork belly braised in coconut water, sour soup with snakehead, morning glory with garlic and four bowls of rice. The whole menu is 31 dishes, from VND 15,000 for a bowl of rice to VND 458,000 for a pot of lẩu mắm (fermented-fish hotpot), 8% VAT included. Each dish lists its spice level, diet and allergens; see the [menu](/en/menu). ## The house Bếp Rơm opened in 2024 in a townhouse in Tân Định ward (old District 1), in an alley near Tân Định market. The address, 41/7 Nguyễn Hữu Cầu, is an assumed address for this demo site. The restaurant seats 100: the main room 48 (tables for 2 and 4, and three round tables of eight), the covered veranda 32, the fire counter 8 seats facing the grill, and the private room 12 (14 with extra chairs). There are 4 high chairs. We open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:30 to 22:00, and close on Mondays. ## Who cooks Chef Trần Kim Loan grew up beside a wood stove in the Mekong Delta and cooked twenty years in a family rice restaurant; she runs the braises and soups. Lê Văn Tư has grilled snakehead since he was young and keeps the straw fire at the fire counter. Nguyễn Đức Thịnh, fifteen years in restaurants, takes every booking, private room and group request. Mai Thanh Vân keeps the nine-group allergen table for all 31 dishes and cooks the vegetarian dishes. Read more about each of them on the [team](/en/team) page. These four are fictional characters on a demo site. ## What we say plainly Lẩu mắm cannot be made milder because the chilli is in the broth. The kitchen is shared, so we cannot promise there are no traces of allergens, and we track only nine groups. We do not allow outside drinks. The private room has a minimum spend, and groups of 15 or more are taken by phone only. These are Bếp Rơm’s own rules, set out in full in the [reservation policy](/en/reservation-policy). What goes into the kitchen, which dish it is for and what we do not use are on the [ingredients](/en/ingredients) page. The logo, colours and how to write the name are on the [brand](/en/brand) page. To take a seat at the table, [reserve](/en/reserve); under 8 guests there is no deposit. ## Hold a table Pick the party size first and the calendar shows only times with a table that fits. Tell us diets and allergies in the same form. [Reserve](/en/reserve)[See the 31-dish menu](/en/menu)