Conventional wisdom holds that the best gifts often come in the smallest packages. Open the unassuming box that holds the Moongate Asian Grill and you'll discover a tiny, glittering culinary gem. The eatery dispenses Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese fare that is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat.

When we say the Moongate is "tiny," what we really mean is "itty bitty." There are seats for about 24 people at any one time. Warm weather opens several tables on the patio that faces busy Quebec Street near the new Lowry development.

Once you DO get a seat it is well worth the wait. The warm, hip decor includes wooden "waves" hanging from the ceiling and happy fish, stars and palm trees. Even the dishware is distinctively shaped and brightly hued. Screens shield the waiting people from the lucky diners who sit at tables covered with white tablecloths.

They are lucky because they get to experience Taste of Siam ($11.95), a heaping platter o' pleasure anchored by a whole, sliced, tempura-fried Japanese eggplant surrounded by a treasury of delicately fried scallops, shrimp and fish in an intriguing brown sauce. If I gave grades to individual dishes, Taste of Siam would get an A+.

The appetizer menu features upgraded versions of the classics. For starters, the standard crispy spring rolls ($2.95) are slim, thin-walled cigars packed with shredded vegetables with a tart red plum sauce; delicately seasoned shrimp and pork fills each steamed shumai ($3.75). The cold Thai spring rolls ($4.50) are blessed with a blissfully silken peanut butter chili dipping sauce. Steaming hot, spanking fresh pieces of broccoli, sweet potato, mushroom, zucchini and eggplant make the simple tempura vegetables ($3.95 appetizer, $5.25 lunch, $7.95 dinner) a special occasion.

At the Moongate, the classic hot and sour soup takes on two distinct guises. Sandon hot and sour soup ($1.50) includes the usual egg, tofu and mushrooms, but its dark broth is complexly spiced. The Thai hot and sour soup ($2.50) is lighter and imbued with lemongrass and gingery galangal. My favorite warmer is tom kha gai ($2.50) with white meat chicken in curried coconut milk.

The menu describes Moongate's seaweed salad ($3.75) as "a must try if you are adventurous." I DID because I AM but as sea vegetable dishes go, this one is pretty accessible. Toasted sesame oil dresses slips of chewy, slippery seaweed with baby greens. Thai beef salad ($5.50) challenges your taste buds with intense sour, sweet, heat and salt notes amid the lettuce, mint, steak and cool cukes.

Rather than separate menus, nearly every dish is available in lunch and dinner portions. Dinners are sided by steamed rice served in a pretty painted box.

You can't go wrong choosing curries. The green curry ($7.25 dinner, $5.25 lunch) creates a pleasant afterglow and tastes of fresh-ground spices and herbs. The pineapple curry ($7.25/$5.25 lunch), with its coconut creaminess, fools you into thinking it's totally mild, but the heat emerges from the sweet. We enjoyed it with plump shrimp ($1 extra).

I indulged my weakness for sesame chicken ($7.95/$5.25 lunch) and was pleasantly surprised. The Moongate's version tosses juicy chicken chunks fried in a great batter with chewy dried mushrooms, crunchy asparagus and sesame seeds. The aromatic sweet-spicy sauce is happily lacking that viscous candy sweetness that plagues this dish at Chinese eateries.

In these and every other Moongate dishes, vegetables are treated reverentially. Very fresh celery, bell peppers, carrots, zucchini and other garden delights are impeccably steamed and served hot and crispy. No limp florets of broccoli here.

One dish that rightfully keeps customers coming back time after time is the artful crispy duck ($11.95, dinner only). The fowl is fully marinated in five spices and then fried. The resulting duck - crispy skin and moist meat - is cleavered into bone-sucking bites. There was more than enough meat left over to make another big meal the next day. Also recommended is the grilled lemongrass pork chops ($8.50/ $5.25 lunch) with a barbecue-like honey-sweet chili sauce.

The Moongate's greatest hits of Asian noodle cookery includes a Vietnamese rice noodle bowl with shrimp ($6.95/$6.25), pad Thai ($6.95/$5.25) and a wonderful version of "drunken noodles" ($5.25/$6.95). The curly, long, soft, wide and slurpable rice noodles are sauteed with a chili, basil and white wine gravy. This nearly European preparation will be a revelation to those whose only Asian noodle encounters have been of the chow mein kind.

There's really not much to complain about at the Moongate - except that we didn't get to taste everything. Some dishes - including the potstickers ($4.95), miso ($2.25) and wonton soup ($1.50) - were only decent, not special. The beverage and dessert choices are quite limited, but it didn't bother us at all.

Overall, the service was efficient, friendly and fast enough. We want to hurry back to try fish fillet in black bean sauce ($10.95/$6.95), shiitake duck ($11.95), sriracha beef ($8.50/$5.50), Saigon soft-shell crab ($12.95), grilled Thai barbecue chicken ($7.95) and other specialties.

Some might whine that the pan-Asian approach is not strictly authentic. Maybe not, but the individual dishes here stand on their own, marked by a conscious approach to cooking high-quality, visually appealing food.

Until the marvelous Moongate finds bigger quarters, I recommend visiting on weekdays and early on weekend nights or simply take out some favorites to enjoy at home.

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@Rocky MountainNews.com or (303)892-5103.