After building a fierce following for Phat Eatery, Alex Au-Yeung’s Katy-based restaurant known for scratch-made Malaysian street food, the chef and restaurateur has officially expanded inside the Loop with this week’s launch of new ghost concept Phat Kitchen. As the pandemic alters the way Houstonians eat, Au-Yeung is seizing the moment to double down on the growing preference for to-go service while introducing his cuisine to a broader audience. The Phat Eatery offshoot will operate as one of the many concepts renting commercial kitchen space at Cloud Kitchens’ Blodgett Food Hall, located at 2616 Blodgett Street between Houston’s Third Ward and the Museum District and designed specifically for producing food for off-premise dining. Alongside popular Phat Eatery menu items, Au-Yeung is also taking advantage of the ghost kitchen format to introduce additional Southeast Asian concepts under the Phat Kitchen umbrella.
“After the pandemic, a lot of things changed,” says Au-Yeung, who watched to-go business at Phat Eatery evolve from 10 percent of sales to half of all orders and decided to adjust his plans for a second location. “I really liked the idea of Cloud Kitchen and decided to give it a shot, rather than spending more time and money to build out a brick-and-mortar. In the cloud kitchen space, we can also put multiple concepts in one kitchen.”
Phat Kitchen will serve a selection of Phat Eatery’s most popular menu items, particularly those proven to travel well, including flaky house roti canai, beef rendang, chicken curry, curry laksa and the restaurant’s newest feature: dim sum. In addition to the Malaysian offerings, the 400-sq.ft. kitchen is also introducing menu items for Yelo, the up-and-coming artisan banh mi shop that Au-Yeung is opening next to Phat Eatery in Katy Asian Town, with Cuc Lam as executive chef. In light of construction delays, operating a pop-up version of Yelo inside the ghost kitchen allows the duo to tease palates with a mix of traditional and inspired Vietnamese sandwiches, spring rolls and rice bowls while training staff prior to opening the brick-and-mortar later this fall.
From the inspired side of the menu, Lam is excited to debut creative interpretations of classics, such as the Pho-rench Dip, a banh mi twist on a French Dip. Inspired by the Vietnamese soup, it is stuffed with star anise-scented brisket, hoisin and sriracha and served alongside a cup of aromatic pho broth for dipping. She’s also drawn inspiration from the Phat Eatery menu, stuffing baguettes with chicken curry and beef rendang and creating a shrimp spring roll based on Au-Yeung’s refreshing mango-papaya salad.
Lam has spent the past few months working with Au-Yeung at Phat Eatery while developing the Yelo menu. “I’ve really enjoyed this experience and using this time to learn Alex’s operations and getting to know his staff,” says Lam. “It’s a fine-tuned machine. He knows what he’s doing, which I’m benefiting from and appreciate a lot.”
After the initial launch, Au-Yeung plans to roll out more offerings under the name Pig + Duck, a new concept in focused on Chinese barbecue. The cuisine has been a passion project for the chef since he first learned the craft while training in Cantonese kitchens in Hong Kong. Anticipate a simple, well-executed menu of barbecue roasted pork, char siu and crispy roast duck, all presented with a bit of modern flare.
Vietnamese coffee and pints of Au-Yeung’s creative ice creams are also available on the menu.
Through Sunday, Nov. 8, Phat Kitchen is open daily for lunch and dinner for delivery and takeout. Starting Monday, Nov. 9, Phat Kitchen will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with hours as follows: Sunday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. To enable digital customers to place orders from any of the concepts in one order, all offerings are listed on one comprehensive Phat Kitchen menu. Orders may be placed at phat-kitchen.com.
