The north-west has long been synonymous with Adelaide’s best Vietnamese food. And competition is stiff. On an otherwise unremarkable street in Woodville Gardens is Q Viet. It supplements ubiquitous classics with home-style dishes that are less so.

The banh canh cua tom is crab meat, prawns, pork hock and round rice noodles with tapioca kneaded into them submerged in chicken broth.

The bun mam (fermented fish soup with vermicelli noodles) is like Vietnamese gumbo. The bird-nest-like mi xao don tops crisp-fried egg noodles with a saucy stir-fry of your choosing. There’s also roll-your-own cold rolls, broken-rice dishes, and pho, of course. Choose from three sizes – small, large or extra large – and six variations including the classic pho tai (rare sliced beef); all-in pho dac biet (rare sliced beef, beef balls, tendon, tripe and slow-cooked brisket; and pho ga (chicken). Pair it with a Vietnamese beer or South Australian wine.

For dessert, there’s fried ice-cream, pandan panna cotta and an “old-school” sundae – with a twist. Think Asian flavours such as the often-divisive durian.

Inside the once-cherry-red bricks got a lick of white paint. Alpine-oak benches line the walls in one room. If your pho-slurping neighbour doesn’t haul your mind back to Southeast Asia, a Vietnamese streetscape in the adjacent room will.