It’s always breakfast time in my world, says Kunal Vijayakar

I may not eat breakfasts in the morning, but I do like all kinds, from waffles to Ram Ashray’s Rasam Vada, Eggs Benedict to Dal Pakwan and Poha.

How is it even possible that the meal I love the most, is the meal I eat the least? I never eat breakfast; even as a growing boy I never did. As far as I can remember, all I’d have before I jumped onto my school bus was a cup of coffee that had gone cold because it had been sitting on the dining table since six in the morning. Even today, I do exactly the same thing. I brew myself a cup of coffee and sip it for over an hour, as I go about my morning, and that’s my breakfast.

Nothing is more indulgent than a full English breakfast of fried eggs, sausages, bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and hash browns accompanied by hot, buttered toast. (Pexels)

Except, it was a bit different when I was in school. The thing about my alma mater, St Mary’s School, was that at 8 am in the 1970s, if you walked through the Gothic arches towards the main building, the aroma of kheema cooking in Simon’s Canteen was overwhelming, potent and intoxicating. There was no way that anyone who got a whiff of those spices could avoid the lure of a soft bread roll stuffed with freshly made mince at 50 paise only. The taste and smell of the mince cooked in Goan style, with onions, red masala and vinegar, to me remains and recurs like a ‘sense memory’ as described by Stanislavski; one that will never leave me. To this day, I will never shy away from a summons to a full kheema pav breakfast, often with a ‘half-fry’ on top, at either Olympia Coffee House at Colaba Causeway or Good Luck Café opposite Mehboob Studios in Bandra.

Other than that I don’t really eat breakfast. But it takes very little for me to be coaxed into a felicitous breakfast invite. On holidays, weekends or even at random early morning meetings, I’d quite easily gorge on a huge morning repast, instead of long luncheons.

I may not eat breakfasts, but I do like all kinds. I love a near-dawn visit to Ram Ashray opposite Matunga East station for Rasam Vada (a deep-fried ball of dough in pungent rasam that has a sharp punch of asafoetida), or soft and fluffy idlis dunked in south Indian kadi (yoghurt curry), with a finale of Pineapple Sheera and hot Kaapi (coffee). Even a crisp Mysore Dosa with Podi (masala powder) is quite a day-starter.

The Salmon Benedict at Smoke House Deli. There is something seductive about perfectly poached eggs with crispy bacon, Iberico ham or smoked salmon on hot, buttered, toasted English muffins, and a warm, creamy, unbroken Hollandaise sauce.

Which doesn’t mean that I don’t like eggs for breakfast. I may not eat it, but nothing is more indulgent than a full English breakfast of runny fried eggs, crisp blackened sausages, back bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread and even a slice of white or black pudding (similar to bloodwurst). Maybe baked beans and hash browns accompanied by tea or coffee, and hot, buttered toast. Unfortunately no one does an infarction-worthy fry-up unless you are sitting in an old English pub in the country. Though Eggs Benedict — perfectly poached eggs with crispy bacon, Iberico ham or smoked salmon on hot, buttered, toasted English muffins, and a warm, creamy, unbroken Hollandaise sauce is seductive too. Café Zoe, Indigo Deli, La Folie Lab in Bandra and Salt Water Café are pretty good at theirs.

But we made the best waffles at home. My grandfather, who ran a motorcar company, had a waffle iron forged in the days when you couldn’t buy one in India. I still have that iron at home and though waffle batter is really simple to make, I just use Betty Crocker.

These are old-fashioned waffles, heart-shaped and not the one-inch-thick, square ones. They are cooked crisp and served with only honey and melted butter, exactly the way they serve them at the Willingdon Club or at Kala Ghoda Café if you insist. In the cool anteroom at Kala Ghoda Café, a portion of waffles after you’ve devoured an Akuri (masala scrambled eggs), Parsee Pora (deep fried, spicy masala omelette), Tamota par Eeda (eggs on tomato) or a Hot Fruit and Porridge, is a breakfast for a champ.

If you are anywhere near Chembur Camp in the mornings, the air is infused with the flavours of frying Pakwan served with Dal. Dal Pakwan at Vig Refreshments, Chembur (East), is the ultimate Sindhi breakfast indulgence. It is a plate sized, deep-fried puri spiced with jeera and ajwain. Served with a daal of whole chickpea cooked in ghee, with jeera, red chilli powder, amchur and garam masala and served with green chutney (fresh coriander leaves, green chilies and lemon juice) and a sweet chutney (tamarind, dates, jaggery and roasted cumin) garnished with chopped raw onion. Eat it to believe it.

I may never actually eat them, but there are other breakfasts that I am partial to, like the Misal and Sabudana Wada at Prakash Shakahari Upahaar Kendra, Dadar, or the Prakash Dugdha Mandir in Girgaum. Two Prakashes at two ends of Mumbai, but the same taste.

The really gossamer Kanda Poha at Vinay Health Home in Thakurdwar. Freshly baked bun maska with a cup of classic Irani chai at B Merwan opposite Grant Road Station, and a real mawa cake if you’re lucky. CinCin’s Scrambled Eggs with Truffles, and a hot firm French baguette with butter and jam, or savoury crepe with eggs and creamed spinach at Suzette Creperie & Café, Nariman Point.

But nothing, nothing is as decadent and immoral as an early morning round of Nihari at Mohammed Ali Road’s iconic Noor Mohammadi. The meat, which has been simmering all night, is just melt-in-the mouth as it hits your palate. You can choose between Nihari or Nalli Nihari (with marrow), and devour that slow cooked meat in garam masala with its fiery red oil, swabbed with rotis hot out of an even hotter tandoor. Now even if I don’t really eat breakfast, how could I resist this?