Blogger Meet Breakfast Event Food Review Uncategorized

Breakfast at (Cafe) Sundance

February 19, 2014

I love breakfast! I may be guilty of not having it everyday, but the days that I do (mostly weekends), I feel happy and fulfilled! The options for breakfast are so intriguing, so diverse and really delicious – eggs (scrambled, fried, omelette, poached), french toast, poha, upma, pancakes, waffles, sausages – you name it!

So, when I was invited to Cafe Sundance by Sameer Malkani of the Food Bloggers’ Association of India, I was intrigued. However, the idea of traveling all the way to Churchgate was not my idea of a Sunday morning breakfast. After some convincing from BawiBride, I finally decided to go. Boy, am I glad I did.

So after a train ride and a short – rather beautiful and nostalgic – walk to Cafe Sundance, I reached the venue. Let me tell you something about Sundance. The eatery, as blogger and fellow foodie Roxanne told us, used to be owned by a Parsi owner (then, it was called Sundance Cafe) and served the most delicious sandwiches in the old days. Sadly, as a college student I merely passed it by due to my always dwindling pocket money.

*Love how the sun lights up everything inside. Beautiful lighting for photography!*

Soon, for reasons best known to him, the Parsi owner sold the restaurant and a beautiful French restaurant, Chez Vous replaced it. I remember visiting Chez Vous once (much after my college days) and having the most delicious chicken main and cheese platter. Sadly, that, too, closed down till the owners of Two One Two Bar and Grill took over. They revamped the space – of course keeping the structure intact – and brought back the old name Sundance and a similar menu filled with sandwiches, burgers, sliders and a veritable list of breakfast items!

The event at Cafe Sundance involved of course having breakfast, but also a more interactive session of waffle making. Now waffles are essentially a crispier version of the pancake, made in a waffle iron. It can be served with several toppings (maple syrup being my favourite) and fruits. The session started off with a short session by Chef Aditya, who demonstrated how the waffle iron must be used.

Chef Aditya’s demo

And then we bloggers were divided into teams of two. I was paired with young law student Benaaz Pherozshaw (she writes at theheightofhunger.blogspot.in). We decided to go for classic fruity flavours. One half of our waffles was topped with chocolate sauce and strawberries and the other half was topped with bananas and salted caramel. All that was missing was nuts for the latter. After all 5 teams presented their respective creations, we settled down for some breakfast (although, how we could eat after gorging on all those sample waffles, is beyond me!)

I called for the eggs benedict (which I’d always heard about or seen on tv but never had), but also got the chance to taste the spanish omelette, and chicken wings. My Eggs Benedict and the omelette were served with a side of hash browns and a cheesy stuffed tomato, and a garden salad with a balsamic dressing.

The eggs were poached beautifully – with all that runny yolk that is so characteristic of them – the bun was nice and crispy and the chicken (you have the option of spinach, smoked salmon and pancetta) underneath the egg was spot on! What disappointed was the hollaindaise. I’d never tasted hollaindaise before, but to my palate, too, it was mild. There was nothing significantly special about it. A chef friend reckoned that they had used too much butter. But, overall, the dish topped with a balsamic reduction was very delicious.

I loved the flavours and texture of the Spanish Omelette – you can’t go wrong with mushrooms, olives and asparagus. However, the fluffy interior of the omelette was too ‘eggy’ for my taste, though I happily dug into the toppings. The triply spicy chicken wings with blue cream cheese were not as spicy as was claimed, but I was a happy eater nonetheless since the flavours did not disappoint.

Finally, it was time for the judges Roxanne and the Manager of the restaurant to judge the waffles and mine and Benaaz’s won! The judges loved the texture of the waffles and the classic and simple flavours that allowed the waffles to shine. The gift was a beautiful Nigella Lawson Recipe Book on ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’. Can’t wait to use it!

Overall, the event was beautifully organised, the food was delicious and I can’t wait to go back and try all the food. I leave you with a beautifully designed board at the Cafe for all of us from FBAI!