Mention the name Kejriwal to people across India and you are likely to see their eyes widening with emotion or narrowing with hate, depending on where their views on political activism lie.
But for a small set of people, all based in Mumbai – and probably only South Mumbai – their reaction will be quite different: their mouths will start to water.
A Kejriwal for them is not a campaigning, corruption-exposing activist but a combination cheese-egg-and-chillies sandwich. It is served in only a few select Mumbai locations like the Willingdon Club, invented, so the story goes, by a former member and kept on the menu partly in his honour, but mostly because many members find it delicious.
The Culture Club
Alok Kejriwal has never eaten one. The tech entrepreneur and CEO of Games2win,com says the Kejriwal who invented the sandwich was Devi Prasad Kejriwal, his grandfather’s brother and a member of a Mumbai Marwari business family who are strict vegetarians, so eggs are not on the menu.
But Devi Prasad was a bit of a rebel. He started eating eggs – but certainly not meat – and since he couldn’t do this at home, he made sure to do so in all the other places where he hung out.
“He was very outgoing and social and would love to go to his clubs,” says Alok Kejriwal. His hangouts were the Willingdon, the Cricket Club of India and Kobe’s, a popular grill restaurant.
And in all these places he made sure his favourite snack was served. It consisted of cheese on toast, topped with a fried egg and sprinkled with chopped green chillies, since he still had a Marwari taste for spicy food.
As his friends must have discovered, it made for a perfect between-meals snack, heavy enough to keep you going, but still short of a full meal. They would have started ordering it and the clubs must have decided to make it a permanent item.
Most clubs always had a few dishes special to them, like the famous Byculla Club Souffle, or the Currimbhoy Salad, another old Mumbai dish only found in clubs.
But if you aren’t a club member you can still try a Kejriwal. Theobroma, the Mumbai cafe-patisserie which is a cult destination for its luscious brownies and other desserts, has had a version on its menu almost since it launched, which was long before Arvind Kejriwal started making news, so there’s no question of it being politically linked.
Kainaz Messman, who started Theobroma, put it on the menu simply because it was delicious, and perhaps also as a good option for vegetarians who eat eggs.
Messman did tweak the recipe. “The original was fine, but I thought there was no harm in reinventing it a bit,” she says.
Instead of sprinkling the chillies on top, she mixed it with grated cheese, onions, coriander leaves, a little tomato paste and some chilly sauce for that extra chatpata touch. This is put on a bun and grilled to make what’s essentially chilli-cheese toast, and a fried egg is served on top.
Purists from the clubs might disdain this, but to my taste her version is an improvement. The original can be a bit of a stodgy mouthful, but melting the cheese makes it easier and much yummier to eat.
And the raw chillies on top of the original could be a bit palate stunning, but mixing them into the base makes for a more integrated dish, particularly once you cut into the slightly runny yolk, which drips into the chilli-cheese base and rounds it all off quite wonderfully.
The Kejriwal is certainly popular at Theobroma. “It’s part of our popular breakfast menu, and always does well,” says Messman.
What Arvind Kejriwal might make of it is a mystery since, like many passionately cause-driven people, he never seems to bother with such mundane things like food.
But for the rest of us, whether supporters or detractors, the one point we should be able to agree on is appreciating a snack that wasn’t named for him, but might get more trials as the brand recognition for Kejriwals of all kinds soar.