Its possible you have not heard of Fanoos ONLY if haven’t heard / been to places such as the Fatima’s Bakery, Johnson Market, Bangalore Military School, the old Elgin Flour Mills but the latter has long been consigned to the dustbin of history unfortunately and so, lets not even venture into that lane for now. A surprise is coming up on Sunday, though. Keep your ears tuned! Anyway, you’ll be familiar with the above places if you enter into Hosur Road from the Richmond Road side or as a continuation from the end of Brigade Road.

Fanoos has been around since a long, long time. I’d reckon about 25 years at the least. What’s so special about the place, you ask? Man, the best sheek kababs & rolls in chicken, mutton & holy cow, even beef – are available here.

Its a popular place in this part of town what with school kids, college students, bacherlors, moony-eyed lovers, down & out/ “end-of-the-month,what-to-do” employees frequenting the place. Sometime ago, it was a seedy place. Nowadays, its much better…thoda sa semblance of order and some neatness is evident.

A previous office of mine was on Langford Road and so, I would pass this eat-out everyday. More often than not, I’d polish off a chicken roll and definitely, whenever I was working late. Literally on the street, this hang-out opens early in the evening and goes on till 12, I guess. A little mamool, baby, can go a long way! Many folks prefer to ‘parcel’ items from here – I can venture to say that this would make for some great parties, along with booze.

Prices are reasonable & easy on the pocket. A single roll starts at Rs 10! You can take it from me that should you have a single 100 buck note in your pocket, you and a friend can have a reasonably satisfying filling.

I recall those days when you could order items and pay cash to anybody at the counter. Perhaps certain hands were caught inside the till or perhaps technology caught up for one fine day, Ejaz- the owner, installed a very fine looking and high-tech billing machine!

On the upside, as I said above, are the taste and variety of its rolls. Those days, the rolls were thicker. Today, thin is in, as they say. Perhaps, inflation has caught up! Quaint names such as Jumbo, Mumbo, Rambo and Sambo rule here. Thats 25, 35, 45 and 55 bucks respectively. Moreover, if you love tandoori kababs, baby, this is the place. Of course, I know of several other places in Mosque Road, Coles Road, MM Road that have rocking kababs but boy, it all started here, in my opinion! Someone correct me if I’m wrong! Today, Fanoos also has ‘shawarma’ rolls in chicken and beef. The astute businessman that he is, Ejaz has kept the beef and chicken counters separate.

On the downside is the fact that its really a stand, eat and go kinda place (a cynic would say ” hole in the wall ” kind of place). People do get boisterous here at times. And so, the squeamish/air-kissing/nose-wrinkling/mineral-water & mouth freshener carrying types will hardly find this place up their street! Of course, Fanoos restaurant is present next door but hey, I’d prefer to stand and eat!

So, in sum, should you be a non-veggie and looking to try out some rolls, here’s a rocking good place!

Fanoos Garments…just what has Ejaz bhai been thinking? Total dilution of brand equity, if you ask me.

Cheers!

:)