Kathmandu, June 21 -- Rattling off numbers like a bingo caller, the waitress shows astounding memory as she recites our order back-there are quite a few items on that list. After all, Pho99's extensive menu bears testing.

The menu does its best to be exhaustive, offering barbecue, curries, salads and a plethora of cold and hot noodle dishes. And then, there's the drinks. This biblical tome, however, consists only of Vietnamese food, with a couple of dishes pilfered from bordering countries. Pho99, the Jhamsikhel iteration of the chain, has seen plenty of success for its Vietnamese offerings. The food, by default, is light and refreshing, spiked with lemongrass and citrus, with herbaceous greens pervading every dish.

With summer stinking...