Asian Cafe and Bakery

Came by on a Wednesday at 3:45 in the afternoon and they’re closed… Business hours say they should be open? Bummer!

Unceremoniously closed. Shame.

Is this place still open? Sign on the door says: 11:00 — 8 pm Mon-​Thursdays, but it was closed at 1:15 pm on a Tuesday… We did eat lunch here in April 2012 and it was very good, typical of meals in Uzbek/​Kyrg/​Kazakh which are a mix of Mongolian and SW Asian foods.

This place is soooooo tasty! Eaten here a couple of times and am always very pleased. Food is hot and fresh and delicious. Staff is always very kind and courteous. Just a good place to go to. Pretty much everything has meat though, so not for the vegetarian persuasion.

Wonderful Central Asian food, Had Plov, Lepeshka with lamb as well as Sambosa’s, they were great! Very friendly waitress and very welcoming to a screaming baby! Will definitely go back and try their whole chicken!

Food: Central Asian
This restaurant offers some traditional Central Asian dishes and baked items. Lunch and Dinner share the same menu. Prices have increased since their initial opening, but are still quite fairly-​priced. Sampled their sambosa, samsa, shorpa, lepeshka, lagman, plov and cream puffs. The sambosa and samsa are flaky baked pastries (closest thing I’ve tried before are pirozkhi) filled with chopped beef, onions and spices (the fillings are similar), but of the two the samsa is more substantial; They’re provided with housemade «red» sauce or sriracha. The shorpo is a thin broth with some bites of potato, carrot and meat — not overly heavy. The lagman is a deeper flavored soup with diced vegetables and beef of which the star attraction are the housemade noodles — toothsome and not unlike East Asian hand-​pulled noodles. The plov was tasty, but not as complex as the versions I’ve seen elsewhere. I wasn’t as much a fan of the lepeshka (traditional round bread); It was dry, dense and cold. I’m assuming it was old, as the description of the bread reads crisp and chewy (of which our sampling was not). Perhaps it’s an acquired taste, or rather it’s magic lies in evoking a sense of nostalgia for those of Central Asian origins. The cream puffs are likewise housemade and vastly unlike those I’ve had before. The puff itself is denser and the cream is more of a sweet cheese and cream mixture (somewhat like sweet dessert ricotta or paneer). Defintely try the cream puffs.
Drinks: Non-​alcoholic beverages
Service: Attentive and friendly. Enjoy a pot of tea as the food seems made to order and will take time.
Atmosphere: Clean and spacious. You forget you’re dining on a less than attractive strip of Sprague.
Comments:
1) They close early on Friday and don’t open Saturday.
2) If you’re interested in the grilled whole chicken, call ahead to preclude a long wait.
3) Plov in large «family/​party-​sized» quantities available.
4) MC/​VISA
5) They have a $ 9.99 meal special which includes shorpa, plov or chicken shashlik, tea and lepeshka.
I would recommend this restaurant to a friend.

Great service and super clean environment! I had samsa with the homemade dipping sauce today. Will go back and try their other menu items! Very unique place!
Highly recommended!