Ande ka funda

Boil it, scramble it, poach it, bake it or fry it — an egg tastes delicious in any form. While the egg’s partnership with bread makes for a delicious breakfast, it’s pairing with spices and a pav makes for a filling evening snack.

Though there are debates over eggs being purely a non-vegetarian dish, you will find egg lovers among the vegetarians as well, who call themselves eggetarians. While roadside stalls selling anda pav and boiled eggs have been a common sight in Mumbai, a number of more formal eateries serving only egg specialties have mushroomed across the city. One such place is Egg Factory in Kandivali known for its unique takes on this humble ingredient like egg sizzler, egg desi gravy, egg lollypop, roll gravy omelette, to name a few.

Gogo master pavlet egg

Explaining the idea behind opening an egg-specific eatery, Jaymeet Patel, owner of Egg Factory, says, “The concept of only egg dishes is popular in Surat and you get variety of them. So I thought of opening one here as well.”

Among the 120 variants of egg dishes served at the restaurant, Jaymeet points out the unique ones. One such favourite is Jannat — a plate of cheese omelette and a sunny-side-up egg with gravy on the side. Another is Hilsa, named after the famous Bengali fish, which is an omelette in the shape of the fish stuffed with secret ingredients and served with four types of gravy.

Unlike Jaymeet, who just thought it was a good business model, Jay Shah and Keerthana Arcot, founders of Anda Apna Apna, founded their restaurant simply because they love eggs. “Back then when we started, there were no egg speciality restaurants. As egg lovers, we thought we should start something egg-specific,” says Keerthana.

Having taken inspiration from the 1994 comedy Andaz Apna Apna, all dishes in their menu are named after the characters of the film. The Teja double egg role, Gogo master pavlet egg, Raveena egg sandwich and Karishmayi egg rocket are just a few instances. Keerthana confesses that all the 18 dishes are handpicked and created by the founder duo, adding that they have their own take on several dishes. “Aside from regular dishes like egg burgers and egg pizza, we also have the egg pavlet. This dish is made from boiled eggs, spices, cheese and fit between two pavs,” she explains.

Experimentation is vital for egg eateries, since they need to always be a notch above regular bhurji stalls. “The overall response has been great. For the longest time, we have had common egg dishes but nothing beyond that. Now I see people really coming forward to experiment,” says Jaymeet.

Keerthana adds that the egg is unique as an ingredient, since many vegetarian eaters consider it to be all right to try this dish, even as they stay away from meat. “We will keep experimenting with eggs and keep looking for innovative dishes. It is our love for the egg that keeps giving birth to all the dishes,” she smiles.

While Keerthana and Jaymeet definitely have the corner on experimental dishes, one can also visit Anda Mental in Azad Nagar for its Chinese omelette, and Eggalicious in Borivali for its tangy Russian sunny-side-up and bhurji preparation called nimbu-mari omelette.