This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
“I’ve been here 40 years,” says Satinder Singh. “Everyone wants a glass of sweet, salty nimbu pani.” Standing in the baking sun at Satinder’s street stall in South Mumbai’s historic Fort neighbourhood, his rehydrating lime soda cannot come quickly enough.
I’m touring the downtown Colaba area with Pooja Madan Kathuria, a guide of nine years who was born and raised in Mumbai. We’re on the Bombay (as the city is still known by many) Express walking route arranged by A Chef’s Tour, a company specialising in group and private street food tours around Asia. “People are often sceptical about street food,” says Pooja. “And most do this tour on their last day. They should do it on their first.”
I couldn’t agree more. Street food is a defining feature of Mumbai culture and a deep-dive into its myriad forms is essential to understanding the city’s intense appreciation for food. Pooja leads me to a vada pav stand by the Telegraph Building at Churchgate Station. Now run by second and third generations, it’s been dishing up deep-fried mashed potato dumplings (vada) in a bun (pav) with garlicky chutney and green chilli to Mumbaikars since 1971. The dish dates back much further, however. Locals will tell you it was vada vendor Ashok Vaidya who first spotted a fellow seller serving omelette pav in 1866 and championed a combo of the two.
I learn more as we walk and talk en route to Churchgate station, taking in Mumbai’s eclectic architecture. There are art deco cinemas, colonial-era stations and grandiose fountains constructed by Indian labourers during British rule. We also pass the landmark hotel Taj Palace with its flourish of Islamic, European and East Asian influences. At A Taste of Kerala restaurant, we sample thali served on a banana leaf before stopping at Volga Pan House, a kiosk where Subhash Chandra has been filling pan (betel leaves) with ingredients such as rose, dried dates and desiccated coconut for 40 years. “I don’t know how many I make,” says the panwala (‘wala’ meaning person of specific service). “But I chew two to four a day,” he says, deftly rolling the traditional mouth-freshner.
A one-stop train ride from Churchgate takes us to Marine Lines (soon to be renamed Mumbai Devi as part of an initiative to decolonise place names). The area is populated by Parsis, who fled religious persecution in the Persian empire more than a thousand years ago, and Iranis, Zoroastrians who left Qajar-era Iran for British-ruled India in the 19th and 20th centuries. At Parsi Dairy Farm, a 119-year-old institution, we try mithai (sweets) and kulfi (ice cream) and the rose-fragranced drink-dessert falooda.
Jambulwadi Bhelpuri House serves up a range of Chaat; a snack food originating in Gujarat, the state north of Maharashtra.
Photograph by A Chef’s Tour, Assada Songjantuek
Around the corner, one of Mumbai’s oldest Irani cafe-bakeries, Kyani & Co, founded in 1904, is a time capsule of vintage signage and photos. It’s Irani cafes such as these that inspired the UK’s ever-expanding Dishoom restaurant group. I eat a wonderfully aromatic keema pav (mutton curry in a bun) and guzzle Parsi brand Pallonji’s raspberry soda.
There are far too many chaat (street snacks) to choose from but Pooja homes in on my favourite, bhel puri at nearby Jambulwadi Bhelpuri House, to finish. Originating in Gujarat, the state north of Maharashtra and my ancestral homeland, it’s a perfect tangy mix of puffed rice, fried lentils, chutneys, crunchy gram flour sev noodles and mango.
The next day, appetite recovered, it’s off to Lalbaug Spice Market. At the Chavan Brothers stall, where you can have spices pounded, ground and blended, I help stir a fresh batch of the 50-plus ingredients for malvani, a spice blend from the west-coast Maharashtra’s Malvan region. I’m here with Chandana Abkari, a guide with The Explorations Company, which designs trips focusing on unique local experiences. We step back to watch the grinding machines in action, and I stock up on some of the complex blend, redolent of cumin and turmeric.
Fragrant bag in hand, we move on to Bhaji Gully market by South Mumbai’s Grant Road Station, where we find kand (purple yam) and the brown, caramel-sweet chikoo fruit, alongside non-traditional produce like wild garlic, lemongrass and avocados. “The market shows the changing palates of a new generation who want ingredients to cook — say, Thai or Italian food,” says Chandana. A firm Mumbai favourite, she tells me, is ‘Chindian’, or Chinese-Indian fusion.
It’s Ramadan, and as evening beckons, Chandana recommends the food stands off Mohammed Ali Road, where Muslims are breaking the fast. I start with dessert, a custard-apple ice cream inside a coconut with malai (coconut flesh), before joining a communal table for fried chicken and rumali-roti (thin unleavened flatbread).
Bombay Sweet Shop, located in Bandra West, aims to merge nostalgia and modernity.
Photograph by Hunger Inc. Hospitality
For many visitors, ‘Mumbai’ means South Mumbai and Colaba’s historic sights. But the suburbs are integral to the city’s food scene, from the juice bars of Juhu Beach to Matunga’s South Indian Udupi cafes and especially Bandra’s restaurants. All are connected to South Mumbai’s peninsular thanks to the Coastal Road project that’s been installing bridge and tunnel links over the past decade.
In Bandra West, I find the retro-chic Bombay Sweet Shop reinventing traditional Indian mithai (sweets). “We try to evoke fond memories while creating fresh and modern experiences with our sweets,” says Girish Nayak, the store’s chief mithaiwala. The bhel puri chikki, a combination of salty nuts and sugary jaggery, is so good I buy 10 packets as gifts. Savoury treats, which I devour on site, include beetroot tikki chaat (a beetroot patty with sev, chickpeas, green chutney and masala powder) and dhokla (spiced, spongy, steamed gram flour ‘cake’) with avocado and cherry tomatoes. I have no room for their latest creation, churros made with gulab jamun (cardamom, rose and saffron-infused fried dumplings), but I return later to try them.
I ask the sous chef, Tulsi Ponnappa, what her favourite item is: “Our cherry gola (granita), available exclusively here,” she says. “Nothing beats a street gola, but I think we’ve come pretty close with this dessert. It holds a special place in my heart because as a kid, I used to save my school bus money to buy gola.”
Sequel is a farm-to-fork restaurant located in the Bandra Kurla Complex, headed by Vanika Choudhary.
Photograph by Assad Dadan
Later on, I head for Sequel, a gluten-free, farm-to-fork restaurant that’s located in the Bandra Kurla Complex helmed by Kashmiri-born Vanika Choudhary. Inspired by her grandmother, who made 40 pickles a month, the almost all-female restaurant champions indigenous, fermented and foraged ingredients. It’s here, over a kombucha shake and vegan protein bowl of oven-baked millet and green pea falafel, that I meet Mumbaikar food writer Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi.
Old and new converge in the Worli district at Ode. It’s the latest restaurant from Rahul Akerkar, the Maharashtrian-German credited with bringing fine dining to Mumbai in 1999 with his restaurant Indigo. This venture uses traditional techniques, such as pickling and smoking, to create modern fusion dishes.
“I use as much local food as I can. From flour and seafood to spices,” says Rahul over lunch. The charred cabbage is surprisingly light, while the walnut onion cappellacci pasta in Kashmiri morel broth is warming, and the dark chocolate Khandeshi kala masala mole sauce is a gamechanger on pork ribs, perfect with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from Indian winemaker Sula. As for chef Ash Moghe’s aged manchego cheesecake: I’d have eaten it twice.
When I ask Rahul what he craves after time away from Mumbai, he says, without hesitation: “Street food.” For all the city’s excellent restaurants, it’s heartening that a third-generation recipe for vada pav or bhel puri is what endures, even for a top chef.
I think back to my Colaba tour with Pooja, which ended at Mumbai’s main railway station sipping masala chai from a chaiwala under grand gothic buttresses. In a city with an insatiable appetite for change, street food stands as firm as its architecture. Mumbai just isn’t Mumbai — or Bombay — without it.
Must-try restaurants in Mumbai
1. Jimmy Boy
This family restaurant in Colaba has been dishing up mutton pulao dal (mutton with rice and lentils; pictured), keema pav (mince in a bun), and masala chai in a Fort district heritage building since 1925. Enjoy a Parsi breakfast of keema gotala (mutton mince with scrambled eggs), and specialities such as saas ni macchi, sweet-and-sour fish. From 300INR to 950INR (£3 to £9). No alcohol.
2. Bombay Canteen
This Lower Parel brunch spot serves regional dishes with a twist. Try pani puri, hollow fried pastry puffs, filled with prawn and avocado, and street food-style tikki chaat patties made with turnip. South Indian-inspired Telangana chicken curry dishes are generous and cocktails are creative — try the tamarind whisky shake. Mains from 1,000INR (£9.50).
3. Shree Thaker Bhojanalay
Who can resist an unlimited thali? This vegetarian Gujarati institution in Kalbadevi serves plentiful platters of savoury farsan (snacks), warmly spiced daals, chutneys and flatbreads in a no-frills but air-conditioned dining hall. No alcohol. From 600INR (£5.70).
4. Joshi House
Dishes served at this Rajasthani-style mansion in Pali Hill, include truffle ravioli and risotto, inventive street food such as broccoli and green pea samosa, mutton biriyani, and prawns cooked in homemade masala. The paan kulfi ice cream infused with sweet spices and gulkand (rose petal paste) is alone worth the trip. Mains from 750INR (£7.10).
Five foods to try in Mumbai
Vada pav
Served across the city, the king of Mumbai street food is the original ‘veggie burger’, a deep-fried potato patty with tangy chutneys, packed into a soft white bread bun.
Chindian cuisine
Try pan-fried chicken Manchurian with soy sauce, chilli, coriander, ginger and garlic, a hit since Kolkata-born Nelson Wang founded Mumbai’s China Garden in 1975.
Maska & chai
Mumbai’s Irani cafe-bakeries such as Yazdani, near Flora Fountain in the Fort neighbourhood, sell fresh maska; a soft, slightly sweet bread served with homemade butter and masala chai.
Green chilli thecha
A favourite with Mumbai food writer Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi, thecha is a spicy Maharashtrian chutney often served with crispy bhakri, millet flatbread.
Bombay sandwich
The beloved buttered toastie synonymous with Mumbai street food is a must, where grilled sliced bread is filled with chutney, vegetables, cheese and chaat masala spice blend.
How to do it:
A nine-night trip with Explorations Company in Mumbai, including flights from London, starts at £6,000 per person, based on two adults sharing, B&B.
This includes three nights in Mumbai, three in Lucknow, and three in Kolkata, along with a full programme of private guided sightseeing and culinary tours, plus private car transfers and flights within India.
Published in the June 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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