I stopped by Grace's Asian Fusion Cafe on Monday, only to find that they are closed that day. Not to be deterred, I stopped back by today. How could I not return--the window outside is covered with a long list of desserts that they sell. For that reason alone, I had to come back!
The interior of the cafe is nicely decorated in a modern style. There are hip, mid-century style white chairs that swivel (a favorite of my 3-year old son!) There is a piano in one corner. In the opposite corner is a drink station that features stacks of tea pot/tea cup combinations. They serve several varieties of tea (mostly green and oolong.) After you order, you are given your loose tea in a small plastic ramekin. You fill your own little tea pot with the tea and hot water.
After ordering and sitting down, I began to think about the place. I had considered it a new "restaurant" but, upon reflection, it's more of a tea house with food. At this time, they only serve a few dishes of food: cold soba noodles and Asian tacos (or a "lunch box" that combines the two.) But, they have a wide variety of desserts that are made at the Formosa Bakery in Lawrence, KS. The Formosa Bakery was described to me by an employee as a Korean bakery but, based on the name, I'm guessing it's Taiwanese. Regardless, the desserts are delicious! They have one little cake with a cream filling called "Snow White" which would be a good one to try. I also tried a chocolate mousse cake, tiramisu and the "Angel Cheesecake" (which was a lovely, moist, tender pound cake like dessert.) All of the desserts were really good. Right now, during the cafe's soft opening, the desserts are a discounted, promotional price. Go now and try one of each!
I ordered the lunch box, which is $7.75 or $9.75 if you add meat (pork or chicken) to the soba noodles. The soba noodles come with either a peanut sauce of a ponzu sauce. I chose the latter. It was good. The pork or chicken taco is served open faced on a soft, steamed bun. It was served garnished with cilantro and a nice, spicy sauce on top (probably a combo of Sriracha and mayonnaise.) The lunch box made a nice, small lunch. Adequate for me, but I can imagine my husband coming away a bit hungry. That's okay, though, because it leaves room for dessert!
Grace's Asian Fusion Café is owned by Grace Hwang. The employees told me that she works for K-State and that this is her first restaurant venture. Google tells me that she's an adjunct professor in Leadership Studies at K-State and that her students think she's caring and approachable. She seems friendly in her photo on LinkedIn. In any case, she's developed a nice little café that is only bound to get better as they work the kinks out during their soft opening, currently in progress.
Grace's Asian Fusion Café is across the street from K-State, in the strip mall that has Mr. Goodcents and FedEx/Kinko's.
Opens at 10am, but not on Mondays! On Sundays, they have a special rice bowl that they serve. I asked about it. It sounded a bit like bibimbap but doesn't have egg on top. Speaking of bibimbap, I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of the Korean restaurant in Aggieville (where Doughboys Pizza used to be) called, appropriately, Bi Bim Bap. As soon as I try it, I'll post here.
Remember that this is still the cafe's soft opening. Be patient while they work out the kinks. They are a cafe in progress. Speaking of which, here is the website.
Grace's Asian Fusion Cafe
1319 Anderson Ave.
Manhattan, KS 66502
785.537.4444
It's obvious that Grace's is the first restaurant venture for the owner. The food we did get was great (though small and not enough for my husband). The menu is extremely limited and the ordering set up is strange. If this place gets busier, having to counsel every person at the register on what you have to offer, then describing that food, is just not sustainable. Why not a wall menu or even one to hand to people in line? The aesthetics of the place are so cute, the food was fresh, but I'm just not sure this concept can survive. Students want cheap with variety. My advice is to put the kitchen in the back end of the place, add bubble teas and make this more a la carte with noodle bowls. That's a niche that no one is currently filling in Manhattan. Also, there were 6 people behind the counter - too much staff on a Friday evening for the crowd and with few people eating, it just makes for awkwardness when you can hear everything the staff is saying. Send some people home! We did not try the desserts.
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