Eating in Mumbai

Eating Mumbai: Bhel puri at Kailash Parbat
Bhel puri at Kailash Parbat

Eating Mumbai

Bhel puri just might be my favorite Indian food. A snack commonly prepared and served on the street, you can find it in restaurants, too. It’s hard but not impossible to find it in the U.S., where Indian restaurant almost always means a predictable menu of Northern Indian dishes, often dismal and boring.

The dish is a perfect mix of sweet, sour, hot, and spicy, plus soft and crisp. It always includes sev—delicate crispy yellow noodles—and puffed rice. There’s usually chopped potatoes and onions, and sometimes tomatoes. It’s all tossed with a spicy sweet-hot sauce and topped with green coriander leaves. It must be eaten as soon as the ingredients are combined.

Eating Mumbai: Bhel puri walla, Bombay, 1989.
Bhel puri walla, Bombay, 1989.

I discovered bhel puri in 1989, my first trip to Bombay. I was intrigued by the long line of people buying from this humble bhel puri walla. Using only his hand, he mixed fistfuls of the ingredients in a bowl, then transferred the concoction to another bowl for the customer to eat from, right there. Yep, I got in line. Nope, I didn’t get sick.

Eating Mumbai: Bhel puri cart, Bombay, 1989.
Bhel puri cart, Bombay, 1989.
Eating Mumbai: Bhel puri and other street food for sale, Bombay, 1989
Bhel puri and other street food for sale, Bombay, 1989

Once I recognized the ingredients, I began to see dramatic displays like these all over the city, each more artistic and appetizing than the next. I ate at many of them.

Eating Mumbai: Savoring the last few bites of bhel puri on Chowpatti Beach
Savoring the last few bites of bhel puri on Chowpatti Beach

In March of 2010, I saw very few street food vendors, no bhel puri wallas. Perhaps I just didn’t walk in the right streets, though I criss-crossed the city and spent much time in Colaba, as I did in 1989. The food stalls on Chowpatty Beach, long famous for bhel puri, have been swept into a permanent organization of stainless steel stands, similar to Singapore’s street food culture.

Eating Mumbai: Chopping onions at Chowpatty Beach.
Chopping onions at Chowpatty Beach.

I had excellent bhel puri (and many other dishes) at the vegetarian Kailash Parbat on Colaba Causeway. Across from the restaurant, they run a sort of glorified street food stand, at which one can order all the standard snacks and sweets. I had incredible panipuri there, one after another until I had to hold up my hand and reject the last of the six that come in an order, handed over one by one. Panipuri are crisp hollow spheres, punctured and filled with spicy potatoes or chickpeas, then topped off with spicy, cumin-flavored water. The entire fragile globe must be placed in the mouth, sometimes a tricky maneuver for a small mouth. The payoff is a satisfying burst, a crackling, a flood of liquid, an explosion of flavor and texture like no other.

Eating Mumbai: Delicious do-it-yourself panipuri at the upscale restaurant Soam, in Mumbai.
Delicious do-it-yourself panipuri at the upscale restaurant Soam, in Mumbai.
Eating Mumbai: Mysore paanki, steamed between banana leaves, is peel-and-eat spiciness.
Mysore paanki, steamed between banana leaves, is peel-and-eat spiciness.

The vegetarian restaurant Soam is a few block’s walk from the north end of Chowpatty Beach, and definitely worth the trip. The small, trendy place serves upscale versions of street food and Gujarati home cooking. Bob and I loved it.

Eating Mumbai: Jackfruit for sale in Bombay, 1989
Jackfruit for sale in 1989 Bombay. I didn’t see any this time, though it was the same month.

Eating Mumbai: Beer is served in tall, iced dispensers at Leopold's the famous cafe that was bombed in 2008.
Beer is served in tall, iced dispensers at Leopold's the famous cafe that was bombed in 2008.

Eating Mumbai: I drank fresh coconut every day from this vendor around the corner from our hotel.

I drank fresh coconut every day from this vendor around the corner from our hotel.

Eating Mumbai: Reviewing my 1989 photos, I found the same heap of coconuts in front of the same temple on Colaba Causeway.

Reviewing my 1989 photos, I found the same heap of coconuts in front of the same temple on Colaba Causeway.
© Copyright 2008-present Bambi Vincent. All rights reserved.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi Bambi,
    My music video incorporating your photos of Mumbai is finally ready!
    Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDyhO2s5BZ0
    The link for the original song video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObpO4_XsATM
    And my YouTube music channel link is http://www.youtube.com/user/swaarah?feature=mhee
    Your comments will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for sharing your photos with me. Keep up the good work! I look forward to enjoying many more amazing photos from you.
    Thanks,
    Shuba

  2. Sure, Suba, you can borrow my photos. Thanks for asking. Post your youtube link here when it’s ready!

  3. Love your mumbai street food pics. May i have your permission to use them as part of a phot slideshow for my song on mumbai street food and nightlife on youtube. Thanks much. Keep up the good work.

  4. Nice pics – I wish I got to spend a bit more time with Mumbai street food!
    Pamela

  5. Great pics and yes, Bhel puri and Paani puri are awesome!

  6. Gorgeous photos, but I shudder to think of you eating street food. It is indeed a miracle that you didn’t get sick.


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