Walk up to our counter at Promenade Shopping Centre and order “the rolls,” and whoever is working will politely ask a follow-up question: fresh or fried? It’s the single most common point of confusion on the appetizer section of our menu, and it’s an easy one to clear up.

Vietnamese cooking has two completely different families of rolls. One is cool, soft, and wrapped in translucent rice paper. The other is hot, golden, and shatteringly crisp. At Thien Vietnam we’ve been rolling both every morning for more than twenty years, first in Saskatoon and now in Thornhill, so here’s the full guide: what each roll is, what’s inside, and which one to order first.

The short answer: fresh rolls are raw, spring rolls are fried

  • Fresh rolls (gỏi cuốn, also called salad rolls or summer rolls) are soft rice paper wrapped around cooked shrimp or meat, rice vermicelli, lettuce, and herbs. They’re served cold or at room temperature with a peanut dipping sauce.
  • Spring rolls (chả giò, also called egg rolls or imperial rolls) are a seasoned meat-and-vegetable filling rolled tightly and deep-fried until crisp. They’re served hot with sweet-and-sour fish sauce, or wrapped in lettuce at the table.

If you remember one thing: fresh rolls are a salad you can hold, spring rolls are a snack you can hear. Both are excellent. They’re just aiming at different appetites.

Fresh rolls (gỏi cuốn): cool, light, and built on rice paper

The fresh roll is the one that surprises people who grew up on Chinese-Canadian takeout. There’s no frying, no batter, and nothing hot about it. A round sheet of dried rice paper is dipped in warm water for a few seconds until it turns soft and pliable, then layered with rice vermicelli, lettuce, mint, and a row of filling, and rolled tight enough that you can see the shrimp through the wrapper.

Because nothing is cooked after rolling, fresh rolls taste like their ingredients. Good shrimp, fresh herbs, and a properly made sauce are the whole game. Ours are rolled to order, so they arrive glossy and tight.

Fresh rolls on our Thornhill menu

Every fresh roll on our menu comes in a 2-piece order for $7.95 or a 4-piece order for $14.95, with the sauce on the side.

  • Vietnamese Rolls (item 1): the classic gỏi cuốn with shrimp, pork, vermicelli, and herbs, served with our house peanut dipping sauce. Start here.
  • Shrimp, Chicken, Pork or Beef Salad Rolls (item 7): same roll, your choice of a single protein. Chicken is the kid-friendly pick.
  • Kebab Salad Rolls (item 6): grilled kebab meat inside the rice paper, so you get smoky, warm filling against cool lettuce and herbs.
  • Satay Salad Rolls (item 9): spicy satay shrimp, chicken, pork, or beef, finished with peanut satay sauce. The 4-piece is $15.95. Contains peanuts and a little heat, in the best way.

Order fresh rolls when you want something light before a big bowl of pho, when it’s still warm out, or when you’re feeding someone who doesn’t eat fried food. They’re also the roll to order for takeout across Vaughan, Richmond Hill, and Markham, because they travel without going soggy.

Spring rolls (chả giò): hot, crisp, and made for lettuce wraps

The Vietnamese spring roll is a different animal from the thick, wheat-wrapped egg roll you’ll find at a Chinese buffet. The filling is finer: seasoned ground meat, glass noodles, shredded vegetables, and aromatics, rolled small and tight. The wrapper is thin, and the roll is fried until the outside blisters and turns deep gold. Bite into one and you get a crackle, then steam, then a savoury, slightly sweet filling.

Golden Vietnamese spring rolls served with lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce

The traditional way to eat chả giò is to wrap each hot roll in a leaf of lettuce with a few mint leaves, then dip the whole bundle in nước chấm, the sweet, tangy, garlicky fish sauce that shows up all over our menu. The cold lettuce against the hot crunch is the entire point. Try it once and you won’t go back to eating them plain.

Spring rolls on our Thornhill menu

Like the fresh rolls, spring rolls are $7.95 for 2 pieces or $14.95 for 4.

  • Chicken Spring Rolls (item 2): golden rolls stuffed with seasoned ground chicken, vegetables, and glass noodles. The crowd-pleaser.
  • Crispy Net Rolls (item 3): the same idea wrapped in a delicate lace-like net wrapper (bánh hỏi-style rice net) that fries up even lighter and crunchier. If you’ve never had these, they’re the roll our regulars talk about.

Order spring rolls when it’s cold outside, when you want a proper appetizer for the table, or when you’re ordering for a group and need something everyone will reach for. On a grey Thornhill evening in November, a plate of hot chả giò is hard to argue with.

Fresh rolls vs spring rolls at a glance

Here’s the whole comparison on one table. Prices are current as of this post; check the menu for the latest.

Fresh rolls (gỏi cuốn) Spring rolls (chả giò)
Wrapper Soft rice paper, translucent Thin rice or net wrapper, fried crisp
Temperature Cool / room temperature Hot
Texture Soft, chewy, fresh Crunchy outside, juicy inside
Filling Shrimp, pork, chicken, beef, or kebab with vermicelli, lettuce, herbs Seasoned ground chicken, vegetables, glass noodles
Dipping sauce Peanut sauce (or satay sauce) Nước chấm (sweet-tangy fish sauce)
Feels like A salad you can hold A snack you can hear
Price $7.95 (2 pc) / $14.95 (4 pc) $7.95 (2 pc) / $14.95 (4 pc)
Best for Light starter, warm weather, takeout Cold days, sharing, lettuce wraps

Two ways to eat rolls beyond the appetizer plate

Rolls aren’t only a starter at Thien Vietnam. Two of the most-ordered dishes on our menu are built around them.

Bún chả giò: spring rolls over vermicelli

Two Rolls on Vermicelli Noodle (item 41, $15.95) is a full meal: two crispy spring rolls sliced over a bowl of cool rice vermicelli, lettuce, herbs, pickled vegetables, and crushed peanuts, with nước chấm poured over the top. Every one of our “with Two Rolls” vermicelli bowls, like the BBQ Pork with Two Rolls (item 46, $17.95), follows the same formula with grilled meat added. If you liked the spring rolls as an appetizer, this is the lunch version. We covered the whole category in our guide to Vietnamese vermicelli bowls.

Rolls as a side to soup

A 2-piece order of fresh rolls is the right size to share while you wait for a bowl of pho, cool and light enough that it won’t fill you up before the main event. Our best pho in Thornhill guide walks through every bowl on the soup side of the menu.

The dipping sauces matter more than you think

A fresh roll without sauce is pleasant. A fresh roll with a proper peanut sauce is the reason people drive from Markham. Ours is made in-house from hoisin, ground peanuts, and a little chili, thick enough to cling to the rice paper.

Spring rolls get nước chấm, the balanced fish-sauce dressing with lime, sugar, garlic, and chili that cuts the richness of the fried roll and seasons the lettuce you wrap it in. Both sauces contain fish sauce, and the peanut sauce contains peanuts, so let us know about allergies when you order.

Frequently asked questions

Are Vietnamese spring rolls the same as egg rolls?

Not quite. Chinese-Canadian egg rolls use a thick wheat wrapper and are usually larger. Vietnamese spring rolls (chả giò) use a thin rice-based wrapper, are rolled smaller, and have a finer filling with glass noodles. They’re lighter and crispier. Some menus in the GTA call them “imperial rolls,” which is the same thing.

Are fresh rolls gluten-free?

The rolls themselves are made with rice paper and rice vermicelli, which contain no wheat. The peanut dipping sauce is made with hoisin, which usually contains wheat, so ask for nước chấm on the side instead if you’re avoiding gluten. Always tell us about dietary needs when you order so we can check the day’s ingredients.

Are there vegetarian rolls?

Every roll on our regular menu includes shrimp or meat. If you’d like a vegetable fresh roll, ask when you order or contact us ahead of time and we’ll do our best to make one up for you, especially with a little notice.

Do fresh rolls or spring rolls travel better for takeout?

Fresh rolls travel best. They’re meant to be eaten cool, and they hold up for the drive to Vaughan, Richmond Hill, or Markham without any change in texture. Spring rolls are best within twenty minutes or so; if you’re taking them home, leave the container lid cracked so steam doesn’t soften the crust.

How many rolls should I order for a group?

Plan on two rolls per person, and mix the styles. For four people, a 4-piece Vietnamese Rolls plus a 4-piece Chicken Spring Rolls is the classic combination.

Come Taste It in Thornhill

Hungry now? Thien Vietnam serves Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese classics daily at Promenade Shopping Centre in Thornhill. Dine in, take out, or order for delivery across Vaughan, Richmond Hill, and Markham.

  • Fresh rolls and spring rolls made to order, with sauces mixed in-house every day
  • Three cuisines, one kitchen: Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese
  • Open daily 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Promenade Shopping Centre, Bathurst and Centre
  • Dine-in, takeout, and GTA delivery

See the full menu to plan your order, or contact us to reserve a table or call ahead at (905) 889-6688. Tell us fresh or fried and we’ll take it from there. Directions and parking are in our how to find us post.