KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — The first time I made dashimaki tamago or Japanese rolled omelette was in a cooking class in Kyoto years ago. I still remember how the slab of eggy goodness tasted when made fresh — soft and custardy.
This is a savoury treat (sometimes sweet, if I added sugar) I relished many times since. It is not difficult to cook it at home but one does need the time and energy to focus on creating the precious layers.
So colour me curious when I discovered Malaysian street vendor egg‘Q’me, which offers dashimaki tamago at night markets and events around town, albeit with an array of toppings and sauces.
And I do mean quite an array.
Toppings include baby octopus, prawn, eel, bonito flakes, seaweed, fish roe, smoked duck, turkey ham and mushrooms; the last one a pairing of king oyster mushrooms and button mushrooms called Mushroom Duo.
They don’t skimp on the homemade sauces either. Customers can select from a list that includes the egg‘Q’me signature sauce, chimichurri, mentaiko, teriyaki, tom yum, BBQ, garlic lime, cheese and honey mustard.
The founder of egg‘Q’me, Gordon Yow, 30, has experience in Thai, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese and plant based cuisines.
He says, "Since young, I always enjoyed eating so I started to try cooking on my own. Now I have worked in F&B (food and beverage) for almost five years.”
But why turn to the iconic Japanese rolled omelette for his first business venture?
Yow explains, "The idea came from a friend who wanted to start up a F&B business, and approached me to start a joint venture but we soon separated due to funding issues. We had various options but tamago was the one I was most confident of in terms of saleability and the least competition.”
There’s something magical about observing how a batch of dashimaki tamago is cooked. A ladleful of beaten eggs, dashi and soy sauce at a time; cooking the omelette layer by layer.
The egg‘Q’me stall can be found at various night markets throughout the week — SS2 (Mondays), Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park (Wednesdays), OUG (Thursdays) and Setia Alam (Saturdays) — as well as various events.
Customers are drawn by the stall’s catchy name. Yow shares, "Well, egg‘Q’me comes from the phrase ‘Excuse me.” The double ‘g’ signifies double ‘8’ and egg also sounds like ‘8’ for good feng shui.”
Even the "Q" in the logo is designed to represent an appetising slab of dashimaki tamago. Clearly everything was well thought out.
Yow and his staff are more than happy to explain their product to passers-by and prospective customers.
He says, "The dashi for our dashimaki tamago is brewed in house. We also use good butter instead of cooking oil to make it juicy, moist and fragrant.”
What are the bestsellers, then? Yow says, "The more adventurous would go for our Garlic Lime Pepper sauce matched with Mushroom Duo. Also, our signature sauce goes well with red meats such as turkey ham or smoked duck.”
Other popular pairings include Tomato and Chimichuri, Crab Meat and Cane Sauce, Turkey Ham & Cheese, Chicken Floss & BBQ, Fish Roe & Garlic Lime Mayo as well as a somewhat Mediterranean influenced Caramelised Onion & Tzatziki sauce.
He says, "But it all comes down to our customers’ personal preference as they explore — just mix and match to their liking.”
Festive periods are a boon for the fledgling business. During Chinese New Year, seasonal CNY pairings came with auspicious meanings.
Towards this goal, Yow has already introduced mini tamago canapés for catering events — bite-sized snacks perfect for sampling.
He adds, "We also aim to introduce a tamago bar concept. It would be somewhere where people can sit down and chill, enjoying various snacks such as our tamago and sip tea.”
Sounds like more egg-citing, eggy days to come. Here’s to more tamago on the go!
egg‘Q’me
IG: https://www.instagram.com/eggQme/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/eggQmetamago/
*This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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