Nice eggs, Ludo

A breakfast at Ludo has convinced me that there are two ways of making perfect scrambled eggs (thus resolving that ancient theological puzzle: Can there be more than one perfect being? Yes, if they are both plates of scrambled eggs).

The first way is the creamy classic, really more of a thick sauce than a solid food. The trick with this kind is to get it thickened enough to be eaten with a fork, but not so thick as to lose that sauce-like quality. In cooking school, we were taught to do this by whisking the eggs and cream constantly (but gently - you're not making a souffle, chef!) over a bain marie until we had almost achieved the desired texture, then to plate and let the residual heat do the rest - further evidence of its sauce-like nature.

This kind of scrambled egg is also a very transient form - left too long on the plate, the edges start to develop an unpleasantly tough skin, and the soft eggy curds start to give up their barely-held-in-suspension moisture and cream. The whole thing turns into a mess of chewiness and wateriness - the very antithesis of the homogenously-textured ideal. This means you have to eat it pretty quickly, and concentrate! It's hard to keep on the fork.

The other way (Ludo's way) is more a fluffier, moister version of an omelette or a quiche. I'm not too sure how they make it. It tastes like it has quite a bit of cream. It's the perfect texture for a long breakfast because since there are no liquid emulsions, no weird skin forms, and the curds don't collapse over time.

Ludo served the scrambled egg on a buttery piece of toast. I had mushrooms with sage on the side, as well as some bacon that (like Australia) seemed unable to make up its mind as to whether to be British or Californian - not quite crispy, not quite soggy. The mushrooms were beautifully done, their cut surfaces gorgeously browned, giving them that unique fungo-meatiness - Maillardariffic*. The sage leaves they had been cooked with were fried to crisp, brittle perfection - I smashed them with my fork and sprinkled them over some of the egg. Wow. A tomato would have been perfect, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat one out of season, and I certainly wasn't going to sully my plate with ketchup (which was, thankfully, not provided).

*by the way, if anyone wants to hang out and conduct the experiment from behind the link, let me know. It sounds way too fun to just do by yourself.

Ludo
118 Queen Street
Melbourne, VIC
(it's 2 blocks from where I work!)

Thanks to the Breakfast Blog for the 411 on Ludo.

Oh yes, the service was really good as well. They weren't all hovering, but my server was always there when I wanted him. My only complaint was the water - it had an odd and unpleasant stale taste, like maybe it had been sitting near something bad and picked up the smells.