Eating out in Bombay (I’m going to write Bombay from now on because no one says Mumbai here) is quite exciting and there are a myriad expat-friendly Indian regional, Thai, seafood, sort-of Continental and other restaurants in our yuppie neighborhood alone.
One thing we hadn’t tried yet is the ubiquitous and much-loved street food. So, tonight, our friends took us to the equivalent of a fast-food restaurant where the kitchen is actually several streetside stalls (pictured). You can either eat outside, as many people do, or escape the muggy heat in the air-conditioned building. The sanitation standards are (hopefully) fine and the food at this very popular eatery was delicious.
First up, in the topmost picture, was pav bhaji—you make a hole in a hollow puff ball and fill it with cooked potatoes and a mix of fried dough and lentils, pouring either sweet or spicy sauce on top.
There was also chaat—the hollow puff ball is pre-filled with a tamarind-based sweet-and-spicy yogurt mixture.
The hamburger-type dish in the middle picture is vada pav—a soft bun had with tomato stew and yogurt, plus onions and lemon for flavor. (Also on the plate was gulab jamun—the sickly sweet dough ball cooked in syrup that none of us hazarded).
Lastly, there was bhelpuri, made up of crisp dough, puffed rice, lentils, lemon juice, herbs and chutney.
All of these vegetarian snacks are quite complicated to make at home, so Bombayites eat them at street stalls and get them from vendors at train stations. While not too healthy they are quite filling. And the price, even at this comparatively upscale fast food place, can’t be beat—around $4 per person!
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