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240-430-0495

Style of cuisine: Authentic Thai

Hours: Open for lunch and dinner until 9 p.m., closed on Wednesday

All dishes $10 or less

No reservations

All major credit cards

Carry out available

Downtown Wheaton is a polyglot of nationalities, cultures, languages and especially, restaurants. Most Wheaton restaurants — such as Salvadoran pupusarias, Vietnamese pho houses, kosher delicatessens, Jamaican Jerk Joints and Thai Kitchens cater to their community’s homeland, and seldom make much effort to reach out to a broader audience. Stepping into these places transports us to exotic emporiums, making a visit to Wheaton a culinary world tour.

Lunch at Nava Thai Noodle and Grill is as close a trip to a side-street eatery in Bangkok as one can get in Montgomery County. Tucked behind Huang Phat, my all time favorite Vietnamese Market, Nava Thai does have its own innocuous entrance from the market parking lot. However, for me, an appropriate mood is set by walking through the market, past the shelves of rice wrappers, frozen durian, lime leaves, and chili pastes to get to the tiny dining room of Nava Thai.

Toomi, along with her husband and daughter, are proprietors, cooks and servers. Often at lunchtime, the 20 or so seats are populated with well-dressed and made-up Thai ladies out for noodles, tea and conversation. The dining room is clean, well lit and decorated with quirky Thai bric-a-brac. The one small coed bathroom is cleaner and more presentable than bigger bathrooms in busier restaurants.

A few menu items are familiar to western eyes and pallets. Panang Curry is fresh and bursting with the flavors and textures of peanuts, chilies and coconut, with your choice of chicken, beef or shrimp. Two asterisks next to number 18, the Green Curry, is a warning that the creamy fresh blend of coconut milk, lime leaves and chilies are boldly seasoned with piquant heat. Drunken Noodles are well executed and feature a specialty of both the market and the restaurant: freshly made wide rice noodles.

The intrepid diner that asked for recommendations will be delighted with the house specialty, Toomi’s Floating Market Soup, a densely flavored translucent broth with noodles, chilies, herbs and bits of freshly cooked beef or pork. The textures of the Green Papaya Salad are punched up with tomatoes, green beans, peanuts and an authentic level of spice. Something as simple as stir-fried Chinese broccoli with crispy pork in oyster sauce is elegant in its simplicity.

All the food is made to order, most dishes sport fresh crunchy vegetables like string beans, Chinese broccoli and bean sprouts. With no appetizers, portions are just the right size to encourage a group of three to share at least five dishes. Dishes are tastefully presented to accentuate color and shape.

There are a couple of Thai beers, and some very unusual fruit beverages. The logan berry juice is sweet with a strong berry taste, and somebody must like the salted plum juice. For dessert, there are always a variety of gelatinous multicolored desserts and other curiosities made with bean curd, palm sugar and coconut.

Be prepared for the cacophony of Thai pop (think the Carpenters singing in Thai) mixed with the sound of Thai TV emanating from the kitchen. Chances are good that Toomi herself will come over to your table to introduce herself and ask how you discovered her little outpost of genuine Thai cuisine in Wheaton. It’s my pleasure to supply readers with an enthusiastic reference.