Naan Stop: Where bread lovers are winners

Traditional and reasonably priced eatery offers variety of naans

ISLAMABAD:

With all that is ethnic being in fashion these days, desi food has become quite the rage. In fact, it has become so popular that people travel long distances to enjoy a particularly delicious chicken karahi or piping hot parathas with a cup of tea. The recent addition to serve desi offerings in capital is Naan Stop, a small dhaba cum tandoori cafe in F-10 Markaz.

Naan Stop is the brainchild of four fresh graduates — Shehryar Qureshi, Usama Farooq, Talha Gohar and Muhammad Ahmed.

“After trying our hand at 9-to-5 jobs, we realised it was not for us and we needed to unleash our creativity and entrepreneurship abilities. My friend (Qureshi) came up with the idea to open a tandoori cafe,” said Ahmed while speaking to The Express Tribune.

He further said customers today just want good food regardless of whether it is at a dhaba or an upscale cafe. “In fact, desi, traditional and reasonably priced works better than most upscale cafes. So we started working on Naan Stop,” he said.

Qureshi said their aim is to create a place where people from all sectors of society can come, enjoy their food and have a good time. “Let’s face it, there are not many places where young ones can chill with their friends for under Rs250 per person,” he added.

The idea was not to start just a business, he mentioned. “Some of us lived in hostels around this area and we know that the only reasonable food one could get in F-10 after 12 at night was Afghani Burger (a fast food joint). Naan Stop is open till 2 am everyday to offer variety to midnight snacks,” he said.

It offers different kinds of naan including cheese naan and conventional flavours like chicken and potato. Interestingly, the cafe offers some very unique flavours including chicken and chilli jalapeno, and Nutella, along with various others. For the ultimate mega naan, order Naan Stop’s stuffed Nutella gone Nuts. The speciality and most unique item on the menu is the dry fruit naan that is the priciest item with a price tag of Rs250. It comes with a creamy thick layer of dry fruits stuffed in a perfectly baked naan. Pair it with a delicious cup of doodh patti for a close to perfect lunch or dinner.

The doodh patti deserves special mention. It tastes as delicious as a perfect cup at a dhaba, except it looks and tastes cleaner. The tinge of cinnamon makes it an absolute treat.

There is something that strikes the eye about Naan Stop in the first visit, whether it is rickshaw photo booth, traditional lanterns and fairy lights that light up the space at night or truck art themed crockery.

One cannot really identify but all of it makes the place interesting enough to grab attention of people from all backgrounds and age groups. The place will start offering truck art merchandise very soon too.

Ali Murtaza, a resident of G-11 and a frequent customer of Naan Stop said he loves the place particularly because it offers something different. “The concept of a tandoori cafe-cum-dhaba is very new in Islamabad and these people serve just what the young ones want; flavours like Nutella and jalapeno,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2015.