Fat Buddha in Newcastle is situated just a few steps from the city centre and welcomes its guests with a large Buddha statue sitting outside. The entrance immediately feels trendy and this feeling follows you inside as you enter the restaurant.
The open plan design, along with the low level lighting give the Fat Buddha a contemporary atmosphere unlike any other town centre Chinese restaurant we’ve previously visited.
We were shown to our secluded booth and began our evening with a couple of cocktails. The first was a Watermelon Martini, which included fresh watermelon muddled with Mamont vodka and watermelon Monin. This was a very refreshing cocktail and the fresh fruit made a real difference to the flavour. The second cocktail was a Flirtini, which included a mixture of raspberry liqueurs and vodka to make a very sweet and fruity cocktail.
“We felt that the main dishes were lacking imagination and could have been far more creative.”
We swiftly moved on to a bottle of Waddling Duck Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which perfectly accompanied our starters of prawn crackers and crispy aromatic duck. The duck was a perfect sharing starter and was delicious, served with shredded scallion, cucumber, hoi sin sauce and traditional pancake.
For my main dish I chose the beef Thai red curry while my partner chose the sweet & sour chicken Hong Kong style. We also chose to accompany the dishes with egg fried rice. Unfortunately, unlike our starter, we felt that the main dishes were lacking imagination and could have been far more creative. Despite the satisfactory first half of our meal, we were disappointed enough to leave without a dessert.
The Bill: £52 per head
