Having lived in Abbotsford and now in Footscray, it is pretty rare I'll eat Vietnamese food when I'm away from my local. There generally is no point, as I won't find anything as good for the price elsewhere. I suppose occasionally there is a desire to try some more "modern" or slightly more upscale places just to see if the extra money buys some extra quality of ingredients.
I happened to find myself in this corner place near Flemington racecourse. After scouring some gourmet ingredients at the excellent Provata Urban Larder & Cafe, I settled for lunch. A family member used to work nearby and so recommended a hearty bowl of bun topped with meats.
I ordered Bun An Kem with grilled pork chop ($11.80), added spring rolls (+$1) and nem nuong pork sausage (+$2.80). The resulting bowl was a large serve of the above ingredients sitting on top of julienned carrot and cucumber, rice noodles and some herbs. I needed a second dish of nuoc mam to drown out my bowl in sauce. The sauce itself wasn't as strong in the fish sauce as I'm used to and had a slightly sweeter flavour - both of which was fine. I would have liked more herbs (I like excessive amount of herb flavour) but overall I can't complain. The meat was tender and flavoursome, the meal was satisfying.
I'm not sure if I'll ever be in the area again but I'd happily come back. There's many other staples on the menu to try also.
10-2016
I found myself back in the area to visit First Choice Liquor, Provata and Coles. I ended up with a dish I don't normally get, Banh Canh Cua ($15.8) where I was swayed by the promise of soft shell crab and thick noodles.
The menu states "tapioca noodles has a chewy consistency, served with thin sliced pork, fish cakes, fresh mushroom, in a thick crab gravy soup. Top with fried soft shell crab and garnish with spring onions, & fried shallots." The fried soft shell crab seems a modern interpretation since I haven't seen that before and thicker noodles are something I've enjoyed more since eating thicker ramen. The crab soup was full of flavour and the lemon squeeze and crushed chilli added extra elements.
Recommended for those who only see Vietnamese noodles as pho (and occasionally BBH).