Fat Buddah Review

March 31, 2014 by Rachel Kershaw in Eating Out 0

If you follow me on Twitter (@rachmotormouth) then you probably already know that I work at Metro Radio and my office is on the middle of a roundabout in Newcastle city centre. Working in the heart of Geordieland has many benefits… I can see the wonderful Tyne Bridge from my window, nip out for some retail therapy on my lunch break and best of all, the city’s finest bars and restaurants are all on my doorstep!

Metro Radio shares the Swan House roundabout (named after the region’s famous scientist Joseph Swan) with a fantastic Asian Bar and Kitchen called Fat Buddah and it was the perfect place for my and my boyfriend to grab something to eat before heading off to the Metro Radio Arena to see Miranda last week.

We were greeted by the restaurant’s namesake, his huge golden cheeky face makes me smile every time I walk past, isn’t he fab? The interior at Fat Buddah is also very impressive, it’s modern and stylish and you soon forget the rush hour traffic outside. Although, knowing what the building looked like before it became a restaurant, it is a bit of a shame that it’s beautiful domed ceiling can now only be appreciated if you’re able to get a table upstairs which I think is only open at weekends.

Instead we were offered a cosy curved booth and it didn’t take us long to choose our starter, crispy lamb and pancakes to share. This arrived with all the trimmings you usually get with shredded crispy duck but was a very tasty (and less fatty) alternative that made a nice change. We washed it down with bottles of Singha and Tiger, two of the many Asian lagers available.

For our main courses were were absolutely spoilt for choice and almost ordered a selection of Asian Tapas so we could try lots of different things like ‘freshly pan fried chicken scallion dumplings’ and ‘deep fried angry soft shell crab’, sound intriguing don’t they? In the end we opted for individual dishes from the main menu, which is divided in to sections by country so if you prefer a certain style of food you can jump straight to your favourites. I went for ‘Pork ‘Kakuni’, from China which the menu described as ‘slow braised Pork Belly that literally melts in the mouth with Sweet Potato & Asian Pak Choi’. To be fair that was pretty accurate! My other half chose ‘Deep-Fried Monkfish Tail – Served with homemade Wasabi Pepper Sauce on sizzling plate’, the menu had a little red ‘s’ next to this dish so we were expecting it to be quite spicy, it wasn’t, not even for my delicate taste buds, but it was mega tasty and very moorish, especially with the sticky coconut rice he’d ordered to go with it!

We left Fat Buddah feeling very satisfied, the service and the food had both been spot on and we went on to enjoy a night of belly laughs at the Metro Radio Arena watching Miranda, it really was ‘such fun’!

By Rachel Kershaw