Guidelet: Mumbai’s Most Unusual Food
A travel guide to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | Target Market: food, mumbai food, best food in mumbai, | A travel guide by: Alan Thomsan
The history of food in Mumbai is closely linked to the growth of this city from fishing village to megapolis. As wave after wave of immigrants from all over the country came with dreams of gold in their eyes, they brought their culinary treasures with them. The result? A smorgasbord of cooking styles and street food that reflects our cosmopolitanism as much as our carbohydrate-fueled work ethic.
Summary of points of interest in this travel guide to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Channa Jor Bhel and Fried Dal Bhel
Why visit:
This third-generation bhel and pani puri vendor, who sets up shop right next to Sanjay Singh’s sandwich stall, sells over a dozen varieties of chaat. If you manage to resist his regular bhel and half-hot-half-cold ragda pani puri, try his fried channa chor (chana jor) bhel or fried dal bhel, in which chanar jor and fried dal respectively replace kurmura or puffed rice. The bhels even travel well, as slightly moist chana chor or fried dal doesn’t taste bad at all. Douse the heat on your palate at either the nariyal pani wala or the nimbu pani wala, both of whom have stalls close by.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Mirchi Kachori Chaat With Only Mirchis
Why visit:
“One mirchi kachori chaat, no kachori please” has been one of my standard orders at Kailash Parbat for years. What I get is six tangy and spicy masala-stuffed green chilli pakodas swathed in yoghurt and KP’s three delicious chutneys, chilli, tamarind, and kothmir-mint. Be warned though, it’s not for the faint of heart – this off-the-menu item will have you waving your hand in front of your face, wiping your watering eyes, and cooling down with spoonfuls of chilled yoghurt.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Manchurian Locho
Why visit:
Locho is a bad mistake made good through the spirit of entrepreneurship. When a cook in Surat added too much water to his khaman batter, it became the base for locho. At Jani, which recently opened in Mumbai after years of success in Surat, locho has gone the way Mumbai’s street dosa and bhel have – it’s got a Chindian version, with a topping of Manchurian or Szechuan sauce along with butter, chaat masala, sev, and onions. For an additional Rs10, they’ll add cheese.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Aloo Bomb
Why visit:
Baby potatoes are boiled in haldi, scooped out until they are hollow (like pani puri shells) and then filled with three chutneys (a runny but potent imli chutney, a green chutney, and a red chutney), chopped onions, lime and sev to make an aloo bomb (or “bum” as it’s often pronounced). Because it substitutes deep-fried puris with boiled potatoes, the aloo bomb is healthier than both sev or pani puri. But that’s not why it’s popular. Just three pieces of this ridiculously addictive snack make for a very satisfactory meal.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Aloo Tuk Chaat
Why visit:
This inventive take on the traditional Sindhi appetiser known as aloo tuk is so popular that each outlet of Zaffran gets 50 orders for it per day. Here, after unpeeled baby potatoes are fried until almost cooked through, drained, left to cool, smashed until flattened and re-fried until crunchy, they are tossed with a tangy, sweet and spicy tamarind chutney, onions, green chillies, chaat masala, and lime juice. Unlike the Sindhi version, which is prepared with mirchi and amchur powder, Zaffran’s aloo tuk is transformed from a fried, starchy snack to a filling chaat that works as a quick meal.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Toast Sev Puri
Why visit:
Imagine this: a slice of bread is buttered, slathered with green chutney, topped with six sev puris with all the fixings of chutney, boiled potato, onions, and of course sev, and then covered with another buttered slice of bread. This is then grilled and buttered some more, before being garnished with another sprinkling of sev. Gupta Chaat Corner’s bestsellers are bhel, sev puri, dahi puri, and pani puri but the toast sev puri is how it found fame.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Bhelpuri Sandwich
Why visit:
During the period when owner Resham Sanghi was trying to come with ideas for sandwich fillings for her bookshop’s cafe, she served bhel inside a toasted sandwich to her kids. They loved it, and so it made it to the menu. Soon after, the bhelpuri sandwich became the cafe’s bestseller. Ask for extra chutney, chopped onions and tomatoes in the bhel to give the sandwich both juiciness and bite.\r\na day,lunch,dinner,night,varies,just show up option
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Vitamin Bhel
Why visit:
Vitamin bhel is a mix of sprouted lentils and legumes topped with chilled yoghurt, jaggery chutney, green chutney and chopped capsicum, tomato and cucumber. It sounds like it’s good for you, and it is, but it hardly tastes like health food. Owner Pinky Chandan Dixit says the light and refreshing snack sells the most during summer, when about 30 or 40 plates are served up every day.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Chicken Chaat
Why visit:
Not everything works at Food First, but their chicken chaat has become quite popular among patrons. Spicy tandoori chicken is chopped into tiny bits, and then left to chill and marinate a second time in a “chef’s special sauce”, which is dominated by the flavours of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, sesame seeds and olive oil. Just before it’s moved to a customer’s table, the chicken chaat is tossed with kachumber and served cold.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Dayaram’s Chhappan Bhog
Why visit:
At Dayaram’s, at least half-a-dozen busy staff members can be seen briskly tossing up chhappan bhog chaat, while a clutch of customers either wait to be served, or pay for their grab-n-go pouch of chaat and secret masala. The chaat – which may not be prepared with 56 ingredients but is divine nonetheless – is made with fried channa dal, channa chor, two kinds of chiwda, nylon sev, Kabuli channa, peanut bhajiya, and mung dal. The secret masala contains, among other things, dhaniya powder, jeera powder, black pepper, cloves, and elaichi.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Chivda Bhel
Why visit:
Pappu has a little stool with a basket, a loyal but small cult following, and a poha-chivda-chilli-lime bhel that he says is his invention. Like Dayaram, Pappu sells only one item, and claims that his chaat is not to be found anywhere else in the world.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Gujarati thaalis
Why visit:
In fast food terms think of this as a large, all-you-can-eat combo platter served on your table in unlimited quantities. Three types of farsan (fried snacky things with a plethora of chutneys). Two kinds of vegetables. Two kinds of lentils. Dal and kadhi (hot and spicy yoghurt based dish). A basket of different rotis and puris (deep fried breads). Two kinds of rice. Two desserts. And mango pulp which the purists pour all over the plate. All this for a modest price. Gasp! A note on Gujarati cuisine: most dishes tend to be on the sweet side and that makes an interesting combination with the spiciness of the food. Mumbaikers either love it or ignore it.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Kolhapuri mutton
Why visit:
The hotter the temperature of a city, the hotter the food. And it\'s true of this mutton dish that has its roots in Kolhapur, a city in the south of Maharashtra. It comes in two coconut based gravy variations. The nuclear strength version is called Tambda Rassa (a red chili spiced extravaganza). And the milder version is called Pandhara Rassa (yoghurt, cashew nuts and raisin embellished). Both go well with either rotis or rice when you\'re in the mood for a feast.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Mutton sukke
Why visit:
Mumbaikers break out into sweat over this Malvani-style mutton dish. Chunks of mutton on the bone marinated in a hot Malvani masala and fried with onions and garlic and red chillies until everything browns and the meat is tender. It can be eaten with chapattis or wadé, rice flour pancakes.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Nihari Naan
Why visit:
The phrase \"breakfast like a king\" gets taken to another level when you dig into a plate of Muslim nalli nihari. You could probably fight a war after this power meal made of soft and tender mutton shanks in a rich, greasy gravy filled with marrow and steeped in spices, the flavors exploding with delight. A crisp roti makes for the perfect accompaniment. Can you stomach this for breakfast?\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Chicken Samosa
Why visit:
It\'s best to bite into a hot one, hiding under a street stall during a typical Mumbai monsoon downpour. When you go through the crisp crust, you meet the steaming and savory-with-a-hint-of-sour chunks of spiced potatoes and peas. Lovingly shaped into triangles and deep fried, these calorie busters are worth the one week that you’ll need on the treadmill to work it off. But a samosa can also give you heart at that last leg of your day when transport is not in sight, it\'s dark and there\'s a long way home.\r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Zhunka bhakar
Why visit:
This dish has deep roots in the farming and working class communities of interior Maharashtra. Considered the common man\'s food, a political decision was made at the highest echelons of government to make it available everywhere. Overnight, thousands of zhunka bhakar stalls opened, none pricing it more than Rs 10. Traditionally, the zhunka is made using chopped onions tempered with mustard seeds and kadipatta leaves mixed with chickpea flour and is dry. It is eaten with jowar (millet) bhakri or roti. \r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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South Indian tiffin
Why visit:
What started as tiffin in British India -- a light meal that was had between meals -- has become a rage all over the country. And especially in hard working Mumbai. Here you will find a South Indian tiffin available every half a kilometer and at any time of day or night. These steamed (idlis) or fried (vadas) dumplings made with multi-grain lentil batter are best scooped up with coconut chutney or dunked into hot sambar (spicy and sour lentil and vegetable soup, boiled with masalas and spices). \r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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Varan bhaat
Why visit:
If you wanted to name one truly soul satisfying food of Mumbai city, then this would be it. The simple and truly humble dish is made by lightly tempering cooked-till-soft toor dal (a lentil) with ghee (clarified butter), turmeric and cumin powder. Served over steaming hot rice, or bhaat, it assumes magical, mythical proportions. \r\na lunch,dinner,varies,just show up option
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