Several new restaurants opened their doors this summer and offered Searcy a fresh taste of Asian cuisine.
Pho Ever and More, owned by Rudy and Hendra Wijaya, opened in June and specializes in Pho, a Vietnamese soup.
“It’s a meal, not a side dish,” Rudy said. “It comes with noodles and a broth we make with a beef bone marrow.”
They boil the broth for eight to 10 hours each day and serve the dish with noodles, a choice of protein and a side of optional vegetables. The restaurant also sells a variety of different Asian foods, including Japanese teriyaki, hibachi, sushi and Vietnamese dishes. Customer Nikita Berry described it as a combination of hibachi and Noodle House.
“If you like the Noodle House and Fuji’s you’ll like this place,” Berry said.
Pho Ever and More has lunch hours up to 2:30 p.m., and opens for dinner hours at 4:30 p.m. However, the restaurant is closed on Sundays. Rudy says the business has received a positive response from Searcy residents.
“We really appreciate the local people who help us do business,” Rudy said.
Their hope is that more people will come and try something new.
“Please support us, we try and give our best in serving the people around Searcy,” Rudy said.
A second Asian restaurant, CM Hotpot and Grill, is run by Carlos Frogoso and offers a communal dining experience.
“I want people to experience what I experienced when I went to the Philippines,” Frogoso said. “Almost every corner you’ll see a hotpot and grill.”
The term hotpot and grill refers to the style of dining where people can sit around a table and cook the dishes together. Each table has a heated basin for soups and a small grill for customers to cook their meat.
“Some people are like ‘wait a minute, I didn’t know I have to cook the food for myself,’ but that’s the point of it,” Frogoso said. “It’s fun because when you bring your family and friends, you guys are cooking while eating.”
CM offers three kinds of soup: a spicy Szechuan soup, a tomato soup and the original soup.
The original is “more like a vegetable broth,” Frogoso said. “Because we have had a lot of people who have been asking for gluten-free, we have that original soup they can use.”
CM also sells bundles, which make the trip more affordable for dining parties. If the customer isn’t interested in hotpots, there are plenty of entrees to choose from. Frogoso made sure to point out the mini pork buns, which are dumplings with soup inside.
Frogoso’s family has already been established in Searcy’s restaurant scene. His mother owns Whilma’s Filipino Restaurant, and gave him the building when she moved her restaurant to a new location.
“She told me to find something new,” Frogoso said. “So I was like, hotpot and grill would be a perfect change of scenery when it comes to food.”
Frogoso wanted to cater to Harding in particular because of the diverse student population.
“People are now getting to know and enjoy it,” Frogoso said. “I even have a customer that came back every other day, and she’s bringing different people with her. I just hope you guys can also help.”
