No Eggs-aggeration

So while the staple scrambled eggs and boiled eggs are served with salami,mayonnaise or white cream sauce toppings,the omelettes are made with ingredients such as bellpeppers,mushrooms,corn and cheese. But the real bite of the menu is in the meal omelettes section boasting of dishes such as Thai red curry omelette,Mezze Lebanese,Omelette Florentine and Potpourri,among others.

“When we started about three years ago,we only served two-egg omelettes,scrambles and some sandwiches. Then we thought why not have whole meals,made of three or four eggs stuffed with other ingredients,” says Deo. Datye adds that the Thai red curry omelette is basil-flavoured rice folded into an omelette and topped with curry,while the Mezze Lebanese is chicken keema marinated in the famous Lebanese seven spice powder folded it into a four-egg omelette and served with hummus and chips.

“Potpourri,too,is an interesting dish for Indian tastebuds. It is an omelette of three eggs with a lot of chopped coriander,stuffed with a gravy made of paneer,herbs and spices. It is presented like a potli and is a hit among friends who want to share,” says Deo.

At the recently opened Yellow and White in Sadashiv Peth,the menu of around 100-odd dishes turns familiar snacks such as vada pav,bakarwadi,samosas and chaat more scrumptious by turning them into Egg vada pav,Egg bakarwadi,Egg samosas and Egg chaat. “As it is,people are very fond of these items and when we add egg to it,they like it even more. Our Egg chaat has boiled egg,spices,sev and chopped coriander. People enjoy it very much,” says its managing director,Ashish Deshpande.

Another restaurant is Eggstasy in Balewadi,which offers a gamut of paranthas such as Special eggstasy parantha,Hara bhara parantha and Mughlai parantha made with egg as the basic ingredient. What steals the spotlight is Doctor’s special omelette. “We use seven eggs for the dish. Two are made into a plain omelette with only salt seasoning,two are used for a gravy masala,topped with two half-fry eggs and finally,one boiled garnished with salt and pepper. It takes three or four people to polish off one plate,” says Chef Ram Babu.

About the advantages and limitations of using egg as the basic ingredient,Deo says eggs are alike a blank canvas that can be painted with any colour. “It it works,great,else we can start over. Its flavour is such that it can be used with various ingredients and the texture can be moulded into several different ways,” he adds.

Chef Swanand Kathale of Yellow and White says he uses different spices and ingredients for each dish so that they don’’t taste alike. “I use tomato-based gravy for keema,onion gravy for egg masala and spinach for egg green masala,” he says.

As chefs take the famous jingle “Sunday Ho Ya Monday,Roz Khao Ande” seriously,the charm seems to work with the city.