With hectic work schedules keeping professionals tied to their desks, the lunch or dinner outing is now getting usurped by an earlier affair: breakfast. A growing number of cafes have started opening before 10am, giving residents the option of a more sophisticated alternative to the traditional favourite kochuri-chholar dal from the local sweets shop.
Rimpa and Sumanta Ghosh swear by their breakfast dates. “We’re a married couple and both of us work from home. But once we start office, we can never get breaks at the same time,” explains Rimpa, a resident of BB Block. “So we drop the kids off at school by 9.30 and then pop into Calcutta Bakery Cafe, Calcutta 64, or Dosa Coffee.”
The couple was spotted last weekend enjoying English Breakfast at Pepper Town in AB Block, with a friend from Hyderabad. “We like the sophisticated ambience of these cafes. They’re pretty, clean, and you get healthy food options too,” said Rimpa.
Early birds
Blue Plum, in EE Block, used to open at lunchtime all this while, but last week saw them extend their hours, now serving breakfast from 7am. “There was a gap in the market,” says Prince Jaiswal, one of the directors. “There are no good breakfast joints within one or two kilometres here, so we started this. We’ve also started an evening snack menu with chaats and the like.”
Blue Plum restaurant
While Blue Plum offers multi-cuisine, non-vegetarian fare the rest of the day, their breakfast menu is strictly vegetarian. It features a range of north Indian options like parathas, vada pao, and chhole bature, alongside southern favourites like idli, dosa, uttapams, and a Maharaja Dosa that is double the size of a regular one.
“We could have served English breakfast, but many Marwari families look for pure vegetarian options when dining,” Prince explains. “They can be a big catchment if this meal is vegetarian.” Indeed, by 10am last Sunday, the place was buzzing with at least three large families, chatting and enjoying their meals.
The Flurys tea room in CF Block has been opening from 7am since it opened during the Pujas last year. Last month, they pushed their opening time even earlier, to 6am. “We realised there were customers who wanted breakfast that early,” says senior captain Nabarun Goswami. “But on weekends, the crowd tends to come later for lazy brunches.”
AB Block’s Pepper Town opens at 8am, but staffer Kaushik Goria admits they don’t get busy till 10. “But there is still a trickle in the early hours so we stay open,” he says. “We opened about three years ago, and started breakfast later on due to demand.” While their English breakfast remains a bestseller, their desi breakfast platter of dishes like parathas is also popular. So are their waffles, pancakes and Turkish eggs,
No dearth of diners
Cocoa Bakery in DB Block attracts a diverse clientele in the mornings. “Some walk over after jogging for a healthy bite, or buy multigrain bread to eat at home,” says senior barista Suvendu Dutta. “We also see friends catching up. Many come for gift hampers of fancy breads, cookies, and the like, that they pick up on the way to work and will gift later in the day.”
Another significant group is guardians of young children. “We have many schools and pre-schools in this area, and since these kids’ timings are just two hours or so, parents prefer waiting it out instead of going back and forth from home,” Suvendu explains. “To kill time, they come for breakfast, sometimes in groups. After school, if the kids get hungry, they are brought for a late breakfast too.”
Debojit Paul of Calcutta 64 says his wife Sneha and he realised the need for breakfast options as they would leave home without food to drop their child to school in the Entally area. “Then we would look around for a place to eat near our son’s school. I realised even parents coming to drop children in Salt Lake schools would face the same problem.”
The idea made Debojit start breakfast in 2019 but they had to shut down during the pandemic. “Initially, we would open around 9-9.30am, but I realised people have no time for a sitting breakfast after 9am. So we brought our opening time forward to 8am since last month. Now we have groups of morning walkers come in on a regular basis in the weekends,” he says.
Calcutta Bakery Cafe in BD Block sees a lot of office-goers. “Though this is primarily a residential area, there are many banks, insurance companies, and the like located here,” says Saurav Mallik, one of its directors.
“Chartered accountants and doctors don’t have nine-to-five timings either, so they come for a big breakfast and then start work.”
Their hot morning pick includes the Darjeeling pork platter comprising sausages, salami, pepperoni, bacon and more. In New Town, however, the breakfast trend is perhaps yet to gather steam.
“We open at 9, but footfall isn’t as high as I would expect,” says Atreyi Mukherjee, who runs Crackpot Cafe and Bistro behind New Town School.
“We have specials like English breakfast, and varieties of Maggi and juice but they prefer going for heavy sandwiches that are on the all-day menu, or simply have coffee and head out.”
What’s cooking
FD Block’s Craft Coffee Experience Centre attracts morning walkers who prefer healthy meals, says cluster manager Salauddin Sardar.
“Our high-protein platter comprises three eggs, chicken sausages, boiled chicken, salami and mushroom, and is popular among those who have just finished a workout,” he says.
“Pancakes and croissants are also popular, as is our coffee.” Pancakes are so popular that a CE Block cafe has incorporated them into its name: Uncle Peter’s Pancakes & Cafe. “We’re a pure vegetarian place, and specialise in eggless pancakes, that are a must for breakfast,” says Mohit Choudhary, a partner.
“French Toast and Honey, fancy waffles and breads, and English breakfast platter, are all popular. As a cafe, we serve Italian cuisine, but we have positioned ourselves as the first option when someone thinks of breakfast.”
Calcutta 64 did a menu revamp last Friday, including the breakfast menu. To man two shifts at the kitchen they have had to recruit three staff members. Those on the morning shift serve breakfast and retire at 11am, with another batch taking over. They come back around 3pm and continue till 9.30pm.
The cafe has staff quarters at the back for them to rest in. Even Blue Plum, that stays open till 1 o’clock at night, is now calling staff in two or three shifts to man the restaurant from 7am.
Price is right
Despite the mushrooming cafe scene, there’s no denying the enduring appeal of the humble kochuri-jilipi breakfast, which remains affordable and delicious.
Sharma Tea and Gupta Brothers in the BF Block swimming pool area continue to spill over with crowds every morning as morning walkers grab seats outside. “Cafes are everywhere now, but it’s a fad,” says Paritosh Ghosh of New Amantran Sweets in Purbachal market.
The outlet is famous for kochuri, luchi and radhaballavi for breakfast. “Our fare is time-tested and doesn’t pinch the pocket. So our customers have only increased since we opened in 2007.” Price is indeed a significant factor, even in the premium segment.
Flurys is currently offering breakfast platters (except the Spanish option) for Rs 600 on weekdays. Otherwise, options like English and American breakfasts here can cost up to Rs 1,000.
“We have an all-day breakfast, but this offer is from 6am to 10 am and there are many takers,” says Nabarun. At Calcutta 64, the most popular order is, again, the English breakfast platter. “It reduces pressure on the rest of the day if there is a solid income at the start,” Debojit smiles.
Once word spreads, Blue Plum expects their breakfast footfall to exceed that of lunch or dinner. “With items like idli, dosa or paratha, the breakfast bill can’t be more than Rs 300-350 per person,” Prince says.
“This is far less than a lunch meal. Since it won’t pinch the pocket, we’re sure many more customers will come out to eat in the morning. This trend is here to stay.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BYSUDESHNA BANERJEE