Phat Burger’s tiny kitchen packs a big punch on Beach Road

By Sapeer Mayron 06 October 2018, 12:00AM

Down by the seawall at Mulivai, there is a small bar you’re probably familiar with called Cocktails on the Rocks.

And perhaps, if you’ve been there in the past six months you will have noticed the once vacant kitchen at the back has been pumping out creative and healthy meals for lunch and dinner.

As of this week, that kitchen has a new name: Phat Burger. 

Its power couple chefs believe it might be Samoa’s first and only gourmet burger bar, where you can find more than 15 different kinds of burgers on the one menu, including the Spongebob Squarepants inspired speciality.

Kelly Walker and Kylie Stephen Fauchelle have worked in hospitality for 20 years, and Kylie even worked as a burger joint manager at some stage.

“I’ve perfected the crabby pattie recipe, and it’s amazing,” said Kylie laughing.

When you order food at Phat Burger (previously Food on the Rocks), it’s a real kitchen to plate experience. Don’t expect waitstaff to arrive at your table, just walk up to the kitchen window and tell Kelly or Kylie what you want.

“We love that interaction with our customers and that way we can make sure they get the best possible service,” said Kylie.

Kelly said the food is always good quality, but the idea is also to be accessible.

“We are not quite at the upper end, but we are also not quite four tala lunches, so hopefully we can reach both locals and tourists.”

For these chefs, using fresh local produce is important and they said they will shop around until they find what they need.

“We also get herbs delivered from Poutasi farm and local beef from Samoa Meat Supply,” said Kylie. “That makes a big difference, getting deliveries.”

But Phat Burger doesn’t just get their ingredients delivered; they are also branching out into meal delivery themselves.

One or two spontaneous catering requests led the two to think they could tap into the marketplace outside the restaurant doors and now they do lunch deliveries and function catering.

Their tiny kitchen packs a big punch. Kelly thinks they can cater for up to 100 people in just a couple of hours, despite only having a couple of meters squared between them.

“Now that we’ve been in the space nearly half a year we are used to the space, and we are good in it,” she said.

Having their own kitchen in the space they rent from Cocktails on the Rocks means the two can make business decisions they are proud of.

“We’ll never do takeaways or deliveries in styrofoam, that stuff is so bad for the environment,” she said.

“It probably costs us twice as much to buy cardboard boxes and paper bags, but it’s not worth it.”

Phat Burger is open from 11:30am-7pm at Cocktails on the Rocks, and is on Facebook.

By Sapeer Mayron 06 October 2018, 12:00AM
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