One of the oddest sensations in restaurant reviewing is déjà vu. Some locations just seem to turn over again and again. Maybe the locations are good enough to attract reviewers, but not good enough to keep the restaurants in business. It’s not that the restaurants aren’t well reviewed, either. My first visit to this Allston double storefront was for Ducky Wok, which despite it’s pu-pu-platter name, was an excellent Cantonese and Vietnamese restaurant, and one of the first outside Chinatown to feature live-tank seafood. Then it was Grand Taipei, but before I got around to reviewing that, it morphed into Happy Allston Village Café. The café was beautifully decorated, and the menu swung a little to the Taiwanese side, perhaps aiming for more of the neighborhood’s immigrant families. The deep-fried whole flounder and two-course Peking duck were highly recommended by Robert Nadeau of the Boston Phoenix, but apparently that didn’t sell enough of them.

Which brings us to Pho Que Huong. As the menu suggests, this iteration of the Chinese-Vietnamese theme has swung back toward the food of Vietnam, while retaining some Hong Kong seafood dishes, the live tanks, and a Chinese culinary approach to some of the Vietnamese plates. Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants in America derive rather specifically from the overseas Chinese community in Cholon, across the river from Saigon. After the Communist takeover, the Chinese business community was heavily sanctioned by the new government, and the Chinese-Vietnamese were heavily represented among the " boat people " refugees. Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants as we have known them have been truly bicultural, with even the trilingual menus having clear demarcations between the Chinese and Vietnamese dishes. What’s interesting at Pho Que Huong is that it seems to offer " fusion food " in this cuisine, and it is very good.

Fusion is evident even in a Hong Kong–style appetizer like crab Rangoon ($3.95 small/$5.95 large). The small order is four fried shells filled with cream cheese and crabmeat, but the shapes are petaled as sharply as star anise, and the shells are bright yellow — reflecting a very Southeast Asian attentiveness to appearance. Fresh spring rolls ($3.25) are all Vietnamese: jewel-toned shrimp and basil leaves showing though translucent, soft rice-paper wraps, with lettuce and carrot shreds for crunch, white noodles for bounce, and a spicy-bean dipping sauce — the Vietnamese ideal of many textures in each bite. Fortunately, egg rolls ($3.25) are also Vietnamese. The Southeast Asian way is to roll them like thick cigars (more surface area, more crunch), and although they are as long as cigars, there are only three. The dipping sauce is the syrupy hot sauce Thai restaurants use with fried squid. Fried Peking ravioli ($3.95/$5.75) is all Cantonese: thick, lumpy dumplings with a great gingery-hot soy dip.

Of course, in any restaurant whose name begins with " Pho, " we want to know how they do with the traditional Hanoi beef-noodle soup. There are 14 permutations here, mostly based on cuts of beef. Phò Xe Lùa ($5.75) is the extra-large bowl with the works: rare round steak, well-done brisket, flank steak, tendon, and some light tripe. Many people mistake the tripe for noodles, and eat around the tendon, but I like them all. The broth is beefy, and less spicy and lighter than at Pho Pasteur, but with a nice undertone of star anise. The extra-large is about the standard size elsewhere, which is generally the case at Pho Que Huong: plates are inexpensive but small. With typical appetites, you may want an extra appetizer and entrée over the usual number for a small party.

Vietnamese cuisine is also rich in salads. The poached shrimp salad ($6.50) is representative, with many shredded vegetables and tiny shrimp, held together with a spicy-sour dressing.

Fusion is perhaps most evident in the entrées, where beef with lemongrass ($7.75) has the distinctive citronella aroma of the Vietnamese dish, but a brown, starchy sauce like a Chinese black-bean sauce. The dish isn’t large, even with a scoop of real jasmine rice, but the flavor is wonderful, especially with fresh summer squash, bell peppers, and onions. Seafood with vegetable medley ($8.95) is likewise in a Cantonese-style white sauce, setting off a halved fish ball, a sea scallop sliced at the equator, two small shrimp, four pieces of squid, and excellent pea pods, summer squash, onions, and bell peppers. Again, the portion is modest, but the dish has a lot of fresh flavors.

Que Huong Special Fried Rice ($6.50) is again small, and again rather tasty and not too greasy. It’s in the white style of fried rice, with a fine dice of ham, beef, Chinese sausage, shrimp, chicken, green peas, carrots, and onions. The sweetness of the sausage makes all the difference.

The usual dessert with Vietnamese food is a fresh-fruit shake. You have a choice of 14 here; I can vouch for the strawberry ($2.75), which is superb. The avocado shake can be surprisingly good, while the " Durian " is not for beginners. It seems to retain the horrid aroma of the famous Southeast Asian fruit, without the exquisite custard texture of the fresh durian. " Thai dessert mix jelly " ($2.50) is one of those iced syrup concoctions. What makes it Thai is either the added cream or the combination of green jellies and jackfruit strings. I rather liked it, and not just by contrast with the beans and lotus seeds in most of these drinks.

For a double storefront, this location is one of the nicer little restaurant spaces around. Service was excellent. I certainly hope Pho Que Huong is here to stay, but if it isn’t, the location has already produced several winners, and might continue the streak.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com