Food Review: Breakfast at Melange-Bistro

In our Utopian future, all-day breakfast would be the norm at restaurants. Hardik Parekh, the chef and owner of the month-old Melange-Bistro in Andheri, shares our zest for the morning meal, and has made it an all-day offering at his 40-cover eatery, where the closely packed wooden tables are lit by ceiling lamps. Because Parekh is an “eggetarian”, eggs are the only non-vegetarian fare at Melange-Bistro, where the menu also includes pies, burgers, frittatas, savoury strudels, and tacos. On Parekh’s recommendation, however, we focused on the breakfast selection of omelettes, muffins, pancakes, French toast, and granola with yoghurt. We ate our meal in the inside section, facing the open kitchen manned by a team of cooks who worked remarkably quietly when preparing our food.

Our scrambled eggs breakfast muffin was attractively assembled with strands of chive garnished over a pillowy mound of delicious garlic-flavoured eggs resting on a lightly grilled bun. The parmesan-dusted wild mushroom omelette was packed with the earthy flavour of button mushrooms and the robust aroma of rosemary; its only shortcoming was that the egg wasn’t fluffy enough. In our order of the full breakfast, which came with butter garlic mushrooms, garlicky spinach, avocado slices and grilled tomatoes, the poached eggs were reassuringly runny when pierced. The grilled and sauteed vegetables were poor substitutes for bacon and sausages, but the expertly executed eggs put us in a forgiving mood.

The puck-sized trio of vanilla pancakes, powdered with icing sugar and topped with a tart and sweet compote of frozen blueberries and diced pears, was another breakfast highlight. The pancakes whet our appetite for Melange-Bistro’s desserts, of which we can recommend the green apple and fennel brulee. The green apples lent a mild tartness to the creamy pudding, which was garnished with a salty-sweet fennel and green apple chutney. The rich chocolate tart was more like a lava cake but its gooey dark chocolate centre contained a pleasantly intense flavour of cardamom. Even if you don’t fancy sweets with your first of meal of the day, Melange-Bistro’s breakfast options are the sort of life-affirming stuff that could have Andheri residents wanting to embrace mornings with the prospect of a hearty repast.

A meal for two costs approximately Rs800. This review was conducted anonymously.

Melange-Bistro

LocationShop No.3
Ground Floor
Royal Classic Co-operative Housing Society
New Link Road
Near Fame Adlabs
Andheri (West)

Phone98200 61092

HoursDaily, 8.30am to 11.30pm