Top 5: Bombay street food we miss the most

“To all the people in India – Stay Strong, Stay Home and I assure you that your favourite street vendor is waiting for you right next to the light at the end of the tunnel.” Desi Tripper Akanksha Manglani tells us all about her cravings for street food during the lockdown.

 

A couple of years ago I was talking to a professor and a really good friend of mine… I asked him, “What was the first thing you noticed about Mumbai?” And his answer was simply, “The noise”. Well, for the past few weeks there has definitely been a lack of that. No crazy traffic with horns honking all night long, no hustle-bustle of people on the street all day and all night and sadly, no street vendors tempting us with the vast, exotic and sometimes insane combinations of street food in each corner on the streets of our Mumbai. So today for Desi Tripper I am writing an ode to the top five street foods I am missing during this lockdown.

1. Schezwan Cheese Vada Pav outside Mithibai College, Vile Parle

This place is raved about in all your travel guides. It has been given the title of the best vada pav stall in the city multiple times and for good reason. The combination of the humble Maharashtrian classic vada pav with Indianized Schezwan chutney is the kick that makes it ideal street food. And I am sure that everyone knows no amount of cheese can ever be enough. So the mix of spicy chutney and soft Amul cheese is exactly what you need for your pick me up snack. It is found on literally every corner in Mumbai but the stalls outside Mithibai give you the very best version (Trust me I have tried it on every possible corner in this city!)

 

2. Sev Puri Toast outside Grasshopper, Vile Parle

This particular street food has been a recent find of mine and I cannot wait to gorge on this once again. I heard about it through a cousin and my best friend  and I set out to investigate if it is as good as he made it sound. We believe that we are some sort of street-side sandwich experts and when we bit into this amazing creation which combines chaat and a roadside sandwich we knew that the gods had blessed us. The crunch of the sev puri with all the normal ingredients of a sandwich are what make this particular street food a favourite.

 

3. Narayan Dosa at Opera House

No matter what time of the day it is, the answer to “You want to grab some street dosa from somewhere?” is and always will be a big “Hell Yeah!”. I have again scoured the earth (and by that, I mean most of the reputed dosa stalls in Mumbai) for the best ones. Narayan Dosa is one of my top choices for an amazing Mysore Masala Dosa (It has the three best things in the world Potato, Spice and everything nice). You can guess, I am halfway through this article and salivating at the thoughts of all these foods!

 

4. Pani Puri at Ram & Shyam, Santacruz

This is a chaat stall very very close to where I live so popping by for a Pani Puri or a Dahi Puri is almost a weekly thing. Pani Puri is something that is very personal to everyone just like your own personal style you could say. I like mine without anything sweet and ask for only the teekha pani (spicy water) in mine. Ram and Shyam is one of the spiciest Pani Puris in the city and that is why one of my favourites. Alas, it has been a long time since I popped by for a puri.

 

5. Veggie Momos at Shivaji Park

The last but not the least, the one thing that all the memes are talking about these days – MOMOS! This hidden gem has been the perfect pick me up for me and my colleagues have a pick me up after quite a few bad days. So this is not even a stall on the road technically, it’s just a guy who gets a huge steamer out every evening at around 7 pm to spread momo happiness to everyone around Shivaji Park!
I would dearly like to go up to Momo Uncle (as I fondly call him) and tell him that I miss the twelve momos that are perfectly steamed and stuffed every time I have graced that corner. The spicy chutney is second to none in my all-time list of favourite chutneys and maybe after this lockdown is over, he will finally give in to my nagging and tell me how to make it so that I can use it in times of an emergency!

Thanks to Desi Tripper for letting me write this ode to food I miss and cherish. To all the people in India – Stay Strong, Stay Home and I assure you that your favourite street vendor is waiting for you right next to the light at the end of the tunnel.