If you've enjoyed what's shaking out of the Mama Linh's truck (they of the mega Vietnamese noodle salad covered in pulled pork and pork crackling), it's a fair bet you'll like what they're putting on the plate here. It's around the same quality and pitch, only with fewer wheels and more table settings.

There's plenty going on here in this dinky little pocket on Glebe Point Road, and the team write a good menu. "Organic tofu gems" pretty much just translates to some straight up, slightly spiced, deep-fried tofu bites buried in a nest of red and green onion slices. Perfect with a beer if you roll that way (there's a decent list to be found at the back of the menu), and a blue lemonade if you don't (if you've never experienced the singular joy of eating deep-fried tofu while drinking a sweet, aquamarine soft drink, now might be the time.)

And in a win for non-face-eaters everywhere, the vegan stuffed eggplant, all squishy and sweet like a Vietnamese take on nasu dengaku and covered with toasted peanuts, steals the meal.

What's written so smartly on paper, however, isn't always executed with the same amount of panache on the plate. Pork belly, served on matchsticks of apple and covered in shavings of coconut, is neither particularly hot nor particularly crisp so when scooped up in the betel leaf it's sitting on, it all sort of just disappears in one tepid gooey bite. Cue the sad trombones.

Oh, and Vietnamese beef noodle soup fans, you may want to step away and avert your eyes here. So look, this may just come down to my aversion to semi-dry beef sitting in fatty broth garnished with blobs of bone marrow, but Hem Nine Nine's special wagyu pho isn't working for me.

The good news is there are two more tastings to be had on that paddle that include a chicken pho (very soothing if you're a little under the weather) and the mushroom pho (plenty of punchy umami-osity thanks to all those 'shrooms). 

If you live in Glebe, and have no desire to leave the suburb, these are both totally fine mid-week, "can't be bothered cooking or washing up" dinner options. But really, Marrickville's only a short Uber away, and the joys of Cabramatta and Canley Vale are too many, deep and varied to mention in this short column.

Mama Linh's food truck is great, and continues to serve life-saving lunches to poor beaten-down office workers. Seek it out – some things are just better on wheels.

Bottom line: Pho tasting paddle ($33); duck pancake ($8); tofu gems ($14).