No. 28 - The bar-restaurant anomaly

A pseudo bar-club that serves average food at elevated prices - a fairly standard scene in Newcastle. A pseudo bar-club that delivers great food at fair prices - don't be ridiculous! Actually, one of the Fat Spoon's favourite watering holes, No. 28, just by Grainger Market, is just that place. Believe it or not, before the lights get dimmed and the animals of Newcastle ascend in this rather pretty bar, they not only sell food, but they offer a bistro menu that is interesting, (almost overly) varied and largely delicious.

Most bars that dabble in food usually make an utter (crispy) pig's ear of it, offering weakly constructed dishes usually based around soggy pulled pork, uninspiring burgers or desiccated roast dinners. The alternative approach, greedy restaurants that try their hand at a cocktail menu, are equally as shameful. Nobody wants your version of a long island iced tea, "special" because you've dropped the alcohol content with dodgy spirits. Responsibly, No. 28 is neither of these. They really are a dedicated cocktail bar with a great atmosphere, some nice cocktails and a surprisingly strong eatery.

No. 28 boldly holds no allegiance to any one (or two or three) form of cuisine, a strategy that would usually result in a disastrously confused menu and a vulgar variety of substandard dishes. But somehow, No. 28 pulls off culinary diversity really well, across their tapas sharing starters you can expects some brilliant flavours and inventive takes on classics, such as nacho crumbed quesadillas and curried butternut croquettes. They've also been known to serve a welcomed experiment with pulled pork - a giant filo parcel ram-packed with the stunning wet meat and black pudding, served with yet more pork, mashed potato concealed within greens and a whisky sauce. They're probably enraging chefs of Newcastle daily with their boundary-crossing Restaurant Week menu; and they genuinely don't give a monkeys! An approach the Fat Spoon certainly applauds. All in all, at No. 28 you can expect warming table service, some great food accompanied by money saving deals in pleasant surroundings. 85%

Mamak Corner - The Del Boy of Chinatown

The Only Fools and Horses reference isn't there to suggest that their menu has any equestrian dishes on it, although there is certainly something a little shady going on at Mamak Corner. This Malaysian (but also unconvincingly also Chinese) restaurant, situated at the very end of Stowell street has a lot going for it. Their venue is very attractive, with it's whole crispy ducks in the window and clean finish. The waiting staff are very friendly and there are some really tasty dishes on the menu that differ greatly from the typical Chinese dishes elsewhere on the street. This is of course thanks to their Malay orientation, which they need to be more proud and forthcoming with...why the hell are you competing with Chinese cuisine on the only street in Newcastle that has as many of them as Downtown Beijing?!

The menu is definitely worth sampling and despite the bewilderment riddled within, you can bag yourself something truly delicious. However, make a wrong choice and you can easily be chowing down on a dish that's got a worse bone to meat ratio than a carcass, or bits of fatty meat that may turn you to the dark side (Vegetarianism)! But for the adventurous, this is merely just another challenge to be conquered and enjoyed. The main thing that lets down Mamak Corner, is that although it has a stunning bar, well equipped with a variety of spirits and wines...they don't serve alcohol?! This makes the Fat Spoon very very upset. It's all very well not serving alcohol for whatever reason, but don't lure in the Friday night club with your malicious J2O-serving deception and tea-drinking treachery! We won't ask how the lost their alcohol license...

With this being quite a set back for the restaurant, dinners may choose to opt for visiting this place under lunchtime arrangements. And that can be well accommodative with the variety of special offers, including super cheap set menus, karaoke and even... happy hour drink offers?! At least their confusion is consistent. This is definitely somewhere that could be great, also needs Gordon to come along and give it a huge kick up the backside. 55%

Za Za Bazaar - Buffet Slayer

This is definitely a first. The Fat Spoon is having to eat it's own words. In a previous review (of Flavours) it was vowed that Indian food could never be done well in a buffet format. This new restaurant from Bristol had the Fat Spoon very much mistaken. This literally dazzling restaurant is another one of those world buffets, except the interior concept is anything but bland. The interesting layout, retina-burning neon lights and beautifully aggressive colour scheme generates a very holiday-esque aura. Like all world buffet restaurants they aim to cover all bases with a vast ranges of stations such as Italian, Tex Mex, 'British' and Chinese. But these are generally tag-on cuisines with little to offer other than making you fat with carbohydrate overload. The real heavy hitters at Za Za Bazaar include the substantial Indian contingency, Thai curries and Vietnamese dishes. If you can resist the generics of the restaurant and focus on specialities of Indian and Far East Asia, then you will be in for a right treat. They've clearly sourced a large number of excellent international chefs that are not only able to produce the classics, but also rarer regional dishes such as Dosas, Amritsari machi, gulab jamun, Pad Thai, Shui Ziu fish and Nasi Goreng to name a few. This flavour explosion is as vibrant as the decor here and might leave you weak at the knees and the sheer volume will definitely result in you walking like a 30 stone gangster rapper with a peg leg. Fantastic. The service is and quality of excellent, but you would expect that from somewhere that's just opened and has put so much into their opening delivery. What will be interesting is how Za Za Bazaar deal with the test of time, that usually sees other world buffets crumble in integrity and quality, like the British transport system when we get half an hour of snow. But for now it is vigorously recommended that you give Za Za Bazaar a try. 84%