At the end of December, Caffé Swish, a Pan-Asian restaurant located on Broadway between 115th and 116th streets, shut down with no publicized warning or explanation. With the windows painted over and shades drawn down, the restaurant and Sake bar—heavily frequented by Columbia students—appeared indefinitely closed.
At the end of December, Caffé Swish, a Pan-Asian restaurant located on Broadway between 115th and 116th streets, shut down with no publicized warning or explanation. With the windows painted over and shades drawn down, the restaurant and Sake bar—heavily frequented by Columbia students—appeared indefinitely closed.
A bright sign, posted on Wednesday, Jan. 13, informed curious passersby that the place was officially closed for renovation and would reopen soon. The sign also encouraged those seeking sushi to venture a few blocks south to the Japanese restaurant Tomo.
Three waitresses at Ollie’s said the restaurant was being “fixed up,” and one hostess described the details of the renovation. She said that she heard the “changes are in the kitchen only.” When the restaurant reopens, she said, the interior will look the same, but “the food will be Japanese, sushi, only.” Employees at Ollie’s all agreed that Thai food would no longer be on the menu.
John Jenkins, a cashier at Ivy League Stationers, said he “spoke to a waitress at Swish who said she thought it would reopen around the end of January.” He also said that Swish had temporarily closed about two years ago due to a health violation, but he was unsure of the reason for the latest shutdown. An employee at Morton Williams University Supermarket echoed these statements, saying that a Swish employee told her the restaurant was being “remodeled.”
The originally discussed January reopening now seems less likely according to employees at the surrounding businesses. Jenkins of Ivy League Stationers said he heard that “it is taking longer than it is supposed to, maybe a month and a half.” Waitresses at Ollie’s confirmed these speculations, saying the transformation and reopening would likely take two more months.
While Swish’s meat cooked in shabu-shabu pots has been satisfying hungry Columbians since 2002, students may have to satisfy their Thai and bubble tea cravings elsewhere.