The great, Great Fatsby
Staff shocked by customer’s insistence on chocolate bar
AFTER meeting the culinary demands of drunken partygoers in Durban for more than two decades, Akash Birjanund is no stranger to offthe-wall food combinations.
Birjanund, one of the owners of Sunrise Chip ’n Ranch (also known as Johnny’s) in Sydenham, Durban, has spent countless late nights and early mornings attending to the needs of hungry clubbers on fast-food stops at dawn before heading home.
But Birjanund said the one item that remained a firm favourite with customers was the “Durbanised” Gatsby — a sandwich that originated in Cape Town. It is a South African version of the Dagwood that has various cold meats, fried chips and salads piled on a French loaf.
At Johnny’s, though, the French loaf has been replaced by a staple of Indian cuisine — the roti.
“The roti Gatsby is the best thing after a night of partying and drinking,” said Birjanund.
“Some people don’t even know where they are when they get here. Once they eat, though, they come around a bit. It’s the potato and the roti which absorbs some of the alcohol, I think.”
Birjanund said that despite the odd mix of foods that went into a roti Gatsby, he had put together plenty of much stranger combinations.
“Once this really drunk guy and his friend came up in the morning and he insisted that he wanted a roti filled with rice, broad-bean curry and cheese, topped with a Bar One. We made it for him and he ate it in front of us. We watched in shock.”
The concept of the roti Gatsby was born 15 years ago in Cape Town.
The management of a new franchise restaurant attempted to draw customers by offering them something they knew but that had an Indian twist.
“At first people were wary, but a month or two later people were coming in asking for it. Now it is our number one seller in Cape Town.”
Three years later, the dish — which costs R78 — was introduced to the east coast and has become popular. What it takes to become a “Great Gatsby”. The roti is also known as a full house because of the number of components it has.
Ingredients roti chips salad three sauces fried eggs slices of cheese chicken polony curry of your choice (mutton, chicken, soya, kebabs) Method 1. Birjanund starts by spreading the restaurant’s secret sauce on the roti. 2. The roti is then layered with massive amounts of fried chips. 3. Tomato sauce and homemade chilli sauce are added. Birjanund considers this the most important part of the Durban Gatsby: it is the chilli sauce that adds the necessary kick to the meal. 4. Then curry of the customer’s choice is introduced to the mix. 5. Fresh lettuce leaves are placed over the chips and curry. 6. Three to four fried eggs and a few slices of the chicken polony are added and topped off with cucumber rounds, tomatoes and onion rings. 7. Finish with a drizzle of the homemade chilli sauce. 8. The roti is then rolled, cut into four humungous pieces and shared among the — sometimes slightly inebriated — patrons.