A Former Grill Americano Executive Chef Just Entered the Melbourne Sandwich Scene

In the past few years Melbourne’s sandwich scene has exploded. Hector’s leans classic with an American bent, Warkop adds Indonesian flair, Stefanino Panino plays with Italian deli-style rolls. At Fannys Sannys, a compact daytime venue that quietly opened on Commercial Road in Prahran at the end of 2025, chef and founder Douglas Keyte says its edge lies in stripping things back to basics. 

The former Grill Americano executive chef has built Fannys around a tight menu and a simple idea: apply fine-dining technique where it counts, but never forget that a sandwich still needs to eat like a sandwich. “I don’t want to make it more than what it should be,” says Keyte, who most recently led the kitchen at Brisbane’s Naldham House. “Some things go beautifully in a sandwich. But not everything needs to.”

The seven-item menu is split between rolls, sandwiches and jaffles. Bread is sourced from two local bakers: sourdough loaves, rolls and paninis come from Blanc Bakery in Berwick, and soft shokupan loaves from Manna Bakery in Oakleigh. Among the standouts is a crispy porchetta roll with gem lettuce, dijonnaise and salsa verde; a poached veal panini layered with celeriac remoulade and horseradish; and a fried John Dory sandwich finished with a vivid green goddess sauce, a recipe Keyte originally developed for a restaurant dish that he reworked for bread. “The green goddess sauce is loud,” he says. “It’s packed with herbs like tarragon and dill, anchovy and crème fraîche, and it just works so well with the fish.”

Then there are the jaffles, which lean heavily into Keyte’s nostalgia. The Mac Daddy, a mac-and-five-cheeses jaffle, delivers exactly what it promises, while the Cheeky Bean pairs smoked beef cheek with barbeque beans, a nod to the toasted jaffles Keyte grew up eating at home.

That balance between playfulness and restraint carries through the space itself, which sits somewhere between old-school takeaway shop and polished sandwich counter. It also explains the name. Fannys Sannys began as a joke between Keyte and his partner, thrown around over coffee years before the shop existed. “It had to be light, fun and memorable,” he says. “Something people would laugh at.” 

Coffee, meanwhile, is deliberately left-field. Fannys is currently the only bricks-and-mortar venue in Victoria pouring beans from one of Brisbane’s favourite roasters, Fonzie Abbott, which Keyte came across while working interstate last year.

“I sat on this idea for a long time,” Keyte says. “If I didn’t do it now, it was going to eat at me forever.” Turns out, knowing what to leave out might be the most important technique of all.

Fannys Sannys
66 Commercial Road, Prahran
03 9525 2522

Hours:
Tue to Sun 9am–2pm

fannyssannys.com.au
@fannys.sannys