Walk through or make your way from the parking lot round the back of Hung Phat Asian Market and you'll find a simple Formica table-topped restaurant serving really good Vietnamese noodle soups, dishes and grills. For the uninitiated, a good many of the dishes on the menu come with photographs. But the service is friendly and you only have to ask for directions to find your way through it.

The Pho options won't give you the opportunity to pick your own combination of flank, brisket, tripe and soft tendon that you'll get at straight forward Pho cafes. But you'd find more rresh adventure anyway with the vermicelli noodle soups on the menu, like Laksa-style creamy curry soup with noodles and chicken pieces. Or, from the section where you can opt for rice or egg noodles, pick Mi Chim Cut, a chicken broth with minced pork, cilantro and scallions, topped with roasted quail and sprinkled with fried shallots and fried minced garlic. The Banh Xeo, a Vietnamese pancake stuffed with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts and wrapped up in a lettuce leaf that's a specialty of Hoi An isn't the best I've ever had. But it's good all the same.

This isn't a spot for a romantic tryst with a new sweetie you want to impress - unless you've fallen for an adventurous kindred spirit. But it's a good place to graze through some of Vietnam's most popular dishes without having to worry about damage to your wallet - although your clothing may fall victim to a collapsing Banh Xeo.

Song Phat, through Huat Phat Asian Market, 11315 Fern St. Wheaton, 301 929 2822.

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