Faheem Fast Food: Street-Style Cheap Eats the Pakistani Way
Faheem Fast Food Restaurant is a fixture of the inner west in Sydney, but it could easily be in any bustling city in Pakistan or India. From its sparse and plasticky yet bright and welcoming interior to its cheerfully noisy position on Enmore Road and its staunchly unchanging, tried and true menu, Faheem Fast Food is both familiar and exotic.
Despite the “fast food” part of the name (although the service is indeed lightning quick), Faheem is much more than a hole-in-the-wall takeaway. It’s now moved into roomier digs and has space for several large families to eat, as well as smaller tables for hip inner west couples and pre and post Enmore Theatre punters out for a cheap bite to eat.
The food at Faheem is the Muslim street cuisine of Pakistan and northern India – rich, heavy, meaty and oily, with earthy and complex spice. This joint is 100% halal, so don’t be tempted to bring in any alcohol – stick to the lassis and Indian soft drinks.
Muslim Pakistanis famously make the world’s most delicious tandoori chicken, so it’s little wonder that the marinated, tandoor roasted chook is the most popular menu item at Faheem. Order a quarter or a half chicken and it’s cooked before your eyes on a metal skewer until it’s charred yet succulent and as tasty as they come. The other standout dish is the uniquely Pakistani haleem, the “king of curries,” made of beef simmered with four types of lentils for eight hours until it’s reached a rich, thick, porridge-like consistency.
There’s lots of familiar north Indian fare here – an earthy spinach daal, lamb biryani, a very rich and authentic butter chicken, fish tikka, several types of kebab and another distinctly Muslim favourite – lamb’s brains (they’re soft, creamy and surprisingly pleasant!) in a spicy masala gravy. No meal at Faheem would be complete without several servings of naan to scoop up your curry – big, warm, soft and puffy and delightfully drizzled with ghee.
Posted on Feb 27, 2011 by Fiona Davies
