Vermicelli1492 Second Ave.

(between 77th & 78th streets)

(212) 288-8868

If the name Vermicelli makes you think of Italian pasta, think again. At this Upper East Side Vietnamese restaurant, the vermicelli on the menu are Asian rice noodles more apt to be eaten with chopsticks than twirled around a fork.

The cellophane-like strands are the base for a meal-in-a-bowl called bun, made with shredded lettuce, herbs, bits of meat or seafood, and peanuts. Add sesame beef and chunks of spring rolls for bun bo ($11.95). Soups, salads, curries and other Asian specialties are also served by the helpful staff here.

Coolie-hat lamps and rosy-pillowed banquettes suggest the East, while front doors opened to Second Avenue inject urban bustle. Fuel the exotic illusion with nem nuong, a roll-your-own appetizer of tangy grilled pork, crunchy onion, lettuce and mint in tissuey rice paper ($6.95), or salty-crusted soft-shell crab that holds its own against sharp lemon dip ($8.95). Spicy-hot green papaya salad ($8.95) plays up faintly sweet morsels of seared chicken and zippy lime vinaigrette, while lip-singeing coconut sauce in jumbo shrimp curry ($14.95) renders the dish’s eggplant luxuriously silken.

Wind up with che phay, rice pudding with banana and yam topped with coconut cream ($5.95). And to really use your noodle, stop in for a box lunch: entree, imperial roll, soup, salad and rice, for a mere $6.95.