The people of Mumbai, who head out for this snack after an early dinner, are miffed at the unexplained increase in egg prices, particularly because supply is normal and no untoward weather conditions have been reported.

Traders continue to offer excuses such as costly chicken feed, a "harsh winter" and the upcoming Christmas season for the hike, The Times of India reports.

"For the past two months, prices have been rising and nothing is being done to control them. Several families such as mine do not eat fish or meat but we do eat eggs. At Rs 5 apiece, it cannot be called an affordable commodity anymore," said Sheila Nayar, a homemaker from Nerul.

Non-vegetarian eating houses, where egg dishes occupy a significant place on the menu, are at the end of their tether, even if they buy at wholesale rates.

Parsi specialty restaurant Jimmy Boy prepares several ethnic delicacies that are topped off with fried egg.

Manager Sherzad Irani said, "Budgets have gone haywire despite the fact that we revise our rates every six months to keep up with food inflation.

"We often wait before raising prices, hoping that these wild fluctuations will only be temporary.

"But weeks lapse into months and the burden becomes unbearable.

"We were expecting chicken prices to fall during Shravan, the holy month of abstinence, but they did not."

Over at Malvankatta restaurant in Goregaon, owner V D Patil is trying hard to jugglie the cost of basic ingredients such as onion, tomato, garlic, vegetables-and now eggs.

"We revised our rates in the first week of November because it became impossible to sustain the old prices. We have had to increase the price of egg biryani, egg masala as well as the common bhurji, which most people love.

"Customers do notice. Sometimes they complain but they know that food inflation is hitting restaurants as well as households."