Fat Boys (North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand)

This place was once Momo Tea, it was a hangout for teenagers many years ago and it was filthy. Today it’s not Momo Tea anymore and that’s good because Momo Tea has a bad reputation now due to its E Classification on its Albany Branch, if that old branch was still here then it would have the same classification.

Like I said it is not Momo Tea anymore, it is now called Fat Boys, totally different menu and way much cleaner. Unlike what was here before where they serve usual Asian stir-fried food, Fat Boys offer something different, they specialize in Asian Skewered Barbecues that start at $1.00 each. Usual stir-fried rice, noodles and dumplings are on offer if barbecues are not your thing.

I really did not know that Momo Tea was long gone here as we barely dine in on Mokoia Rd restaurants, until a friend of ours introduced us to this place. Like I said its more inviting now compared to before and it was cleaner, as always, the view was amazing, it is in a good spot in Birkenhead where you have a full unobstructed view of the city. The menu is quite daunting (I hate book style menus) but if you are after some barbecue just stick to that section as there are many items to choose from, it can be quite confusing.

So, for us we did stick mostly with barbecues, we ordered around 30 sticks in different meats, BBQ Kebab Beef (NZ$1.00), Chicken (NZ$1.00) and Pork Belly (NZ$1.50), minimum order is 5 kebabs at a time. These barbecue meats are good, I guess you won’t go wrong on this one, as long as you use fresh meat and ample seasoning and good heat which this place did.

My daughter love dumplings so we grabbed 20 pieces of Pan-Fried Dumplings (NZ$14.00), filing is not indicated in the menu but I am sure the filling is pork. I was good but I am also sure it was not hand made in the shop, as they look like the ones I buy frozen, the edges are not pleated/folded and more like machine processed.

We also had some Stir-Fried Flat Rice Noodle with Beef (NZ$13.50), good flavours, not too salty, beef was tender, quite oily but that holds true on this kind of noodle dish so the rice noodles don’t stick to each other.

Then we had this Stir-Fried Rice (NZ$12.50), a simple fried rice cooked with corn, egg, peas, bean sprouts and onions. A really good pair with those kebabs we ordered.

And finally, one of our favourites on their menu, the Kimchi Fish Stone Pot (NZ$18.80), a soup dish cooked with kimchi, fish and tofu, this was really delicious, it was hot and spicy but done with a nice flavour balance, it has a good kick but not over powering you can still taste the flavours of the seafood.

Overall this place is OK, food was great but the place does look old, I guess it was their lighting. Staff was quite attentive even though there was only one when we were there. Good for a casual meal.

FAT BOYS 肥佬碳烤吧
Address: 72-74 Mokoia Rd, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626, New Zealand
Phone: +649 480 0236