Faheem Fast Food, Enmore, Sydney

Mixed katta kat $12.00
Beef liver and kidney cooked with exotic spices
and traditional Pakistani hot curry

I have a theory...

Offal is the fat kid in school.

All the pretty things - lobster, salmon, scallops, rib eye and rack of lamb - get the instant double-take and the whistle of appreciation. They're the cool kids. Like the tall, blonde and beautiful, they could be wearing a paper bag and still make friends.

Offal has to work a little harder. Squat, spotty and hopelessly uncoordinated, it rarely bothers to rely on its looks. Quietly and patiently, it loiters in casserole pots, mingles with spices, and given enough time, will slowly win you over with personality, heart and sometimes--unexpectedly--a wicked sense of humour.

Oh offal, I believe in you.

I often find myself drawn to tripe on a menu. Not for the sympathy vote--oh no, offal deserves more than that. An order of katta kat at Faheem's Fast Food, a dish of "beef liver and kidney cooked with exotic spices" is my reward this evening. It's a dark and moody dish, cubes of liver and kidney cooked in garlic, ginger, cumin and tumeric with the slow burn of chilli that builds ferociously on the palate.


Okra lamb $12.0
Okra pieces with tender lamb
cooked with onion, tomatoes and medium spices

Faheem has grown since I last ate here. The brightly lit family-style restaurant is now twice the size. Drinks, cutlery and glasses of water are still help-yourself though, and the tandoor oven at the front is always busy cooking enormous skewers of chicken, beef mince and fish and rounds of fluffy naan. The tables are on a constant rotation with families, uni students, theatre-goers and the occasional taxi driver, all getting their fix of Pakistani and Indian food.

The okra lamb isn't as hot as the katta kat. Milder in spice and heat, the lamb falls apart with ease, and the okra is soft and pliable with its trademark stickiness.


Basmati rice with cardamom pod $2.50

We eat our curries with Basmati rice, mopping up the dregs with garlic naan, piping hot from the tandoor.


Garlic naan $2.00


Kashmiri naan $3.00
Naan stuffed with ground almonds and sultanas

The kashimiri naan is always a highlight, generously studded with fat juicy sultanas that mingle with coarsely ground almonds and dessicated coconut. I always consider it my dessert naan, althought the sweetness of the bread often works well with the curries.


Mango lassi $3.50

A plastic cup of mango lassi will extinguish any tastebuds on fire. The yoghurt drinks are the perfect complement to the meal, acting as both palate refreshers, tongue tamers and stomach soothers.

Style or substance? Give me the fat kid, every time.




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Faheem Fast Food
194-196 Enmore Road, Enmore, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9550 4850 or +61 (02) 9550 4803

Opening hours
7 days 11am - midnight dine-in and takeaway

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Faheem Fast Food (Oct05)