The lost legend of the Egg Chiffon on Rice

This is going to be a story about a dish that I fondly remember from my days as a University student, the Egg Chiffon on Rice.

The concept of the dish is pretty simple; rice, BBQ meat of your choice, a slightly runny omelet, topped off with a sauce. It was generous, filling, and most importantly, it was cheap, a vital combination for any student or grad.

A1 and King of Kings were the shops that I frequented in my University and early working days that served this legendary dish, and sadly both shut down around 2010s. After that it made me realize that I never really saw this dish anywhere else.

Fast forward to today, I’m trying to remember and recreate some of my favourite dishes. While searching for recipes on the Internet to recreate this dish, I stumbled upon some bloggers that claimed that the chefs from the A1/KoK eventually made their way to Rose Garden BBQ and started serving it there.

Rose Garden BBQ, Elizabeth St, Melbourne CBD

I have passed by this place many times. It’s one of the rare restaurants have survived as long as I can remember eating out, though I’ve never actually been there before. It’s always busy as heck and during lunch and dinner times there’s always some kind of queue. Inside, people are sharing tables, some dishes can be delivered in under a minute and you’re almost certainly hustled away as soon as you finish your meal.

On my first visit there, I scanned for the Egg Chiffon on the menu but couldn’t find it. I instead ordered the “Crispy Skin Pork Omelette on rice” listed on Top Dishes on the menu:

While it was close, it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t choose the type of meat. The egg was super well done. The sauce was already poured onto the dish and it wasn’t as dark as I remembered. Maybe the dream was dead after all.

As I got up to pay though, I found the Secret Egg Chiffon menu plastered on the wall:

Dammit.

This isn’t the kind of dish you should eat too often, but at least there was still hope.

One week later…

I returned to Rose Garden, placed my order for the Soya Chicken Egg Chiffon and eagerly awaited. Finally after a short wait, it was delivered:

There it was, soya chicken, egg, and bowl of sauce on the side, and the ever slight feeling of regret after finishing it. All the boxes ticked. This was IT.

Egg chiffon is back baby!