Food: Egg N' Curry Is the Team-Up We Didn't Know We Needed
Run, don't walk to this new east Charlotte gem
From a culinary standpoint, I've been incredibly privileged. I grew up in a house that celebrated exploring international cuisine with parents who enthusiastically attempted everything from adobo to ziti. As an adult, I get bored with the same food options quickly, so I try to mix it up as much as possible. I tend to seek out the greatest variety of spices and flavor and textures I can make available to myself.
However, I also worked in the food and beverage industry for fifteen years. It turned out this was just fine for me and my always curious palate as I was afforded lots of opportunities to learn more about food. What’s a njuda? What is umami? How is a velouté different from other mother sauces? These are all things I learned alongside the chefs I’ve worked with and grew to admire.
Naturally, I was excited to check out Egg N’ Curry in east Charlotte. It was the first time I heard of curry with eggs, but I love when that happens. Finding out about a new thing to eat feels like a little gift every time.
The restaurant opened in September of 2022 at the former home of Jyoti’s World Cuisine, owned by the late Jyoti Friedland and her husband Marc. The Friedlands are well known for bringing excellent vegetarian and vegan options to the greater Charlotte area, and in some ways Egg N’ Curry carries the torch as more than half of the menu is composed of vegetarian options.
As first-generation Indian-Americans, we frequently visited India with our parents, who aimed to immerse us in the Indian culture. During these trips, we quickly fell in love with the late-night street food scene – which is the root & inspiration of our restaurant.
Egg N’ Curry Website
To say Indian food is regional and wildly diverse is like saying there's a fair bit of water in the ocean. There's so much to discover that's outside of what we as Americans typically think of when we think of Indian food. I've wanted to explore the diversity of South Asian cuisine for a while, but I haven't found many menus that offer what I'm looking for.
While Charlotte has south Asian comfort food in the form of butter chicken, with great options like Curry Gate, finding flavors that are new to the southern palate isn't always easy. This is one of many reasons Egg N’ Curry was a delight.
Our server, Nelson, was truly sweet and enthusiastic to help us navigate the menu and point out popular dishes and hidden gems alike. His attention felt like a genuine, earnest interaction that added a level of hospitality that is hard to come by. Feeling cared for and engaged with is something I was happy to have modeled and made me think about how I want to approach guests in my own work.
For appetizers, we selected the Gobi 65 ($11), the Cheese Chili Naan ($5) and the Vegetable Samosas ($6) .
Why “65?” The jury’s out. Our server said it’s just the name of the sauce, while a man who grew up in south India from the neighboring table popped over to say he and his wife know it to be a sauce from their hometown in India and believe it’s a blend of 65 spices. The internet says it was invented in the year 1965 or 65 was the original menu number.
Whatever the explanation, the Gobi 65 is a spicy, addictive cauliflower snack. It’s battered and fried, then coated in the bright red 65 sauce, which is salty, umami and has some great heat. Out of four spice options - mild, medium, spicy, and extra spicy - we ordered the medium, which was enough to cause our table to sweat. The dish is topped with cilantro which adds a cool herby finish to the dish, and I picked up some the tingly notes of Szechuan as well.
The chili-cheese naan was soft and perfectly chewy. Even with the spice from the green chilies, the dish provided a little bit of an oasis from the spice in the form of doughy and cheesy bread.
The Vegetable Samosa was one of the best samosas I’ve ever had. It has a light crunchy pastry shell with a fluffy interior of potatoes, peas and spices. It’s a tasty and familiar menu option.
Unsurprisingly, the focus of the menu is Indian-style egg dishes. There are curries with eggs scrambled in, runny fried eggs, and hard-boiled eggs and omelets. I went with the Egg Hariyali Ghotala ($16) because it was highly recommended by our server and it had spinach, grated eggs, and cheese which just sounded different and interesting. The dish has a similar consistency to palek paneer - sort of a thick sauce or gravy but made of pureed spinach, green peppers, tomatoes, and a mélange of spices that read as warm with contrasting notes of bright ginger and garlic. It’s topped with runny eggs. It was a delight and I want more already. Actually, I want all of the dishes from this section of the menu if this is what eggs in curry is like.
The final plate was Hyderabadi Biryani ($16), and this dish really blew my mind. I think my dining partner said something like, “How do we nicely say that this is like if Rice-A-Roni was elevated and distinctly Indian?” Not to be crass, but it’s an accurate description. Egg N’ Curry’s take is a great example of biryani, which is a mixed rice dish made with basmati rice. It’s a longer grain rice with a consistency reminiscent of chopped angel hair pasta. This particular version included cubed chicken that was tender and juicy, perhaps because of the early prep this dish gets. This style of biryani is from Hyderabadi, India and at Egg N’ Curry it marinates for 24 hours to allow the flavors to meld together. The dish is traditionally prepared with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, nutmeg, papaya paste, caraway, mace flower, star anise, lemon, and saffron. All together, it reads as savory and packed with flavor.
Final Verdict
I am trying to think of excuses to be in east Charlotte so I can return to Egg N’ Curry as soon as possible. I’d recommend dining with friends and trying as much as possible because the menu is well thought out and offers a lot. I’m excited to see how this place grows after seeing such strong offerings. It’s a run, don’t walk recommendation for me.
Important Details
Egg N’ Curry
7128 Unit A Albemarle Road, Charlotte, NC 28227
Open for Lunch & Dinner Tuesday through Sunday; Closed Monday
Menu
Writer’s Note
There is so much I don’t know about Indian food and culture, so I used this visit as an opportunity to further educate myself. I have such a long way to go but I am grateful for the help of the internet and southeast Asian creators who helped educate me to the level I needed to write this.
Here are some of the resources that shaped my research that you might enjoy:
More about the history of biryani, which you may have also seen in the 4th episode of Ms. Marvel.
This whole podcast is in my rotation now, but the episode “How Indian Food Became Frustratingly Hip” in particular answered some of the questions I had as a white lady covering a culture that is not my own.
A mesmerizing clip of Hariyali Egg Ghotala being made by street vendors.
A recipe for Gobi 65 that helped me learn more about the dish and also want to make it ASAP.