By Roy - Published on September 19, 2014.
Fork Cafe at 469 Castro Street is changing formats, with a new noodle bar concept and new name on the way.
Though Fork Cafe has been around since April 2012, the current owners took over last September. We spoke with one of Fork Cafe's owners, Nam, who said business has been slow since before they took over and chalked it up to the many restaurants with similar formats nearby (he cited Harvey's, The Cove, Sliders and others as examples). "It took a while to figure out the right concept for that location that [would] be both unique and exciting," Nam said, but it seems they've finally settled on an approach.
The new restaurant's name will be "Slurp Noodle Bar" and it will be a semi-casual restaurant with table service that will serve noodles from different Asian countries including Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore. "Everything will be family-style with prices that are very reasonable," Nam told us.
Other restaurants in the neighborhood offer noodles as a limited part of their menu, but Slurp Noodle Bar will be the only restaurant in the Castro dedicated to noodles. "I do hope the neighborhood will find our new restaurant favorable as it will offer new dishes and tastes that are not available in the surrounding area," said Nam.
Fork Cafe is still open for now, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner through the rest of the week. Nam did not provide us any information on when the restaurant might close for interior changes (if any), but the owners are ambitious about getting the space ready sooner than later. They've pointed to October 1st as a possible opening date for the noodle spot, and we'll be sure to let you know when the new Slurp Noodle Bar opens its doors.
