Five Fat Monks, the popular Asian cuisine chain that serves unique flavours from the region, stands out from the crowd of restaurants at Balewadi High Street for many reasons. First, the quirky name Five Fat Monks appeals to a lot of customers, and second, its pocket-friendly menu attracts a lot of youngsters and the college going crowd. Besides, the dishes are heavenly.
Started a year and a half ago, Five Fat Monks at Balewadi High Street is the brand’s first restaurant-style outlet with an extended menu and a good seating capacity. With a soothing orange and white decor, the place looks cool and happy. Telling us more about the quirky name, Mohini Pundlik, franchise owner and one of the directors of the Balewadi outlet, says that the number 5 represents the five senses — taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. “Monk is related to the Asian culture. ‘Fat’ just adds fun to the name, however, it also signifies foodies,” she explains.
Amol Mavle, who co-owns the franchise and is also one of the directors, adds, “Fat also means well fed and that’s what we do here.”
Besides serving food made with fresh ingredients, the restaurant makes sure the service is fast and the dishes are pocket friendly.
Pundlik says that in a franchise module, you aren’t really allowed to make a lot of changes to the menu, nonetheless it is extensive. “Five Fat Monks is only present at malls with the smaller menu. This is their first attempt at serving in a restaurant style, and we have an extensive menu and a bigger seating capacity. While other outlets located in malls serve food in paper or plastic boxes, we introduced crockery to give it a feel of a restaurant which doesn’t seek to be a fine dining place, but a fun casual eating destination,” she adds.
They are also experimenting with a few dessert options which be introduced soon. “The desserts will be close to the Asian cuisine. For example, we will have sweet dishes with coconut. We are also giving our customers a dessert made with fried noodles, chocolate and choco chips to get their feedback,” says Mavle.
While dishes like noodles, rice, Khou Suey, Dim Sums, Thai curries are extremely popular, their Wok is the hot selling item. “You can customise your Wok by choosing your own ingredients. We have prepared a tiny menu, especially for the Wok and people can tick the boxes given to select their own base (rice, brown rice, bow or noodles), vegetables, sauces, garnishes etc. Most of the noodles and rice preparations served here don’t require a side dish to go with them — they are loaded with veggies/ choice of meat, and have sauces and gravies that make them a complete dish,” says Pundlik.
While Pundlik highly recommends the Wok, made with their in-house coriander and parsley sauce, and served with spinach, Mavle’s favourite dish is Slurpy Suey — Khou Suey made with a thick creamy coconut base gravy and noodles, and has fried cashews.
The restaurant believes in eating and serving clean, hence all their dishes are made using fresh and locally sourced ingredients. They do not use food colours, preservatives or MSG in their food. Pundlik says, “Our Dim Sums are not made with maida but potato and wheat starch which make them healthy.”
Some of the must try dishes are Butter Garlic Prawn that has a strong garlic flavour, Chicken Baos — minced chicken stuffed in a fresh bao, Chicken steamed Momos/ Dim Sums, Prawns Lamb Trinity — noodles cooked in oyster sauce, and Zenhen — egg fried rice served with chicken.
Mavle adds that they are looking at renovating the place and opening the outdoor seating area as well.
ST READER SERVICE
Five Fat Monks, Shop No 1, Park Grandeur, opp Cummins, Balewadi High Street, Baner
