Pav Bhaji

The dish that was born in Mumbai, was originally was a combination of all the 'left-over sabzis' in restaurants and the humble 'Paav' which was once served to the mill workers long back as an 'inexpensive' meal. And today it has evolved into a favourite dish of not just the Mumbaikars but people all over the country.. 


Be it Sardar in South Bombay or Amar in Juhu or Achija in Ghatkopar or Bhagwati in Kandivali.. every suburb in Mumbai has its own famous Pav Bhaji wala..


But having grown up in a not-so-famous-for-pav-bhaji place, i today wanna tell u abt the pav bhaji walas in my suburb Mulund.. with abt 5-6 thelas in a line, in the main bhaji market in Mulund West, its just not possible to pass through a 500m radius of this road without fighting ur temptation.. that is if u have not already given into it.. 


A yum bhaji, which tastes of bhaji and not just butter (:p) and slightly butter n bhaji soaked pav.. wid some salad makes for a nice n delightful combination for sum gr8 evening snack! And with each plate costing about 30 bucks, it is definitely not heavy on ur pocket either.. 


We wud really advice u to come n visit this place once.. With multiple yummy options, this one will certainly not leave u disappointed.. :)


Location: Main Bhaji Market, Mulund (West)
Price: Rs.30-35

Sardar pav bhaji.. (inputs from Foody)

If amul butter has to award any one for being the most loyal and most revenue generating customer..it has to be Sardar Pav Bhaji!!!!

On our voyage, our first face off with this place was at the service table, when Pooja mistakenly thought the table was all covered with water, which actually turned out to be clean, just maybe it’s the staff there who clean their table tops with butter to keep them healthy and fit!!

So coming to the food part or rather the best part..the bhaji simmers on a tawa..and served as a dark red-brownish coloured bhaji, loaded..n seriously LOADED with BUTTER!!!!!

The pav, just looks like if has come directly after taking a nice buttery swim..adding the taste to an already super tasty bhaji..!!

Seriously people, just forget about calories for once and go to this place..enjoy the serene feeling you get when the pav dipped in the buttery bhaji goes down your throat and tingles your stomach.. ;)

Price: Rs. 70
Location: Tardeo, Near Tardeo bus depot.

Nearest station: Mumbai Central

And here comes the Pani Puri..!!

Gooooll Gappppaaa!!!!

Pani puri or say pani ke pataashe or phuchka keh loo or Gup chup or palodi or Gol Gappa hi sahi..say anything but it all boils down to the lip licking delicious puri filled with a mixture of spicy water, tamarind, chillies, chaat masala, onion and sprouts!!!!

In search for the BEST Pani Puri in amchi Mumbai is something what we have been wandering everywhere like the vagabonds in need of a house….and when we say ‘BEST’ it simply has to be ‘THE BEST’ approved by our ever demanding and tickling taste buds which with time and experience have been really trained well to identify ‘THE ONE AND ONLY ONE’ from ‘THE LOTTT…’!!!!

So yes we tried various different places in South Mumbai, Suburbs, Western line, Central line, Harbour line n all many places we could visit (of course as humans we are, we would have missed some good places..;)). Based on what we had, what we liked and randomly asking people there were three places which we think are the places to visit before you die and grab a plate(or may be many more) of Pani Puri and let it sooth your taste buds…

Ok, so the places:

1   Pani Puri at Grant Road, near Westside: A very small stall behind Westside showroom..if someone doesn’t know about it, it’s just not possible to go and realize where have you come..!!

For us, a matter of chance that we landed at Westside and were supper hungry by the end of it..so decided to have a go at it….

It was just a matter of time for us to realize where have we really landed!!!! 

A place where even a Mukesh Ambani loves coming to, has to offer something unique….A combination of a crisp, hollowed-out bite-sized puri filled with ragda, potatoes and Moong and dipped into tamarind water mixed with chilies and chaat masala…Dripping wet and overflowing with the spicy water, you pop it into your mouth and crunch into it all at one go and wait for the explosion of tastes that follows…!!!!

Swallow. Repeat. Standing right there on the street side….

The Own made Puri, the Tangy and sweet water and a plate of sukha puri after the main Pani Puri jus makes it stand out!!!

Cost: Rs. 25 per plate

Location: (Click on map for a larger image)

Seriously people worth a go!!

Pani Puri at Ghatkopar: (Inputs and experiences from my co-author Ms. Hogger)

I'm a very fussy person wen it comes to Pani-puri.. I want a peculiar taste, such that not many people have come close to it..

But one pani-puri wala whose pani-puri, i can almost claim, that i've grown up eating is the one located in Vallabh baug lane in Ghatkopar, popularly known as Khaugali..

He is a whole-n-sole pani puri wala .. Only puri, pani (meetha n pudine wala) and moong-boondi.. no ragda (yeah, not even ragda) no pattice, no sev puri.. no side dishes..none.. but still the pani-puri still manages to tempt my taste buds enuf that my family and I are willing to drive down 15 kms almost every alternate weekend just for a plateful of this mouth-watering roadside dish..!

Well my vocabulary isnt that good that i can use all kinds of adjectives to describe this lil snack.. but i can certainly share a few instances:

Wen i was in my Class 10, a week before my board exams i was really frustrated.. And my parents chose to pep me up.. by actually driving me down to have this pani puri!! And it really worked for me!

Wen i introduced a friend's girlfriend to this pani puri, she didnt really like it.. n i seriously joked to my frnd "yeh kaisi bandi hai yaar,, break up kar le!' (and to some extent, i muz have meant it also!!)

I din't know if he was the best pani puri wala or not(until our voyage that is).. but certainly till date i havent figured out a better pani-puri wala than him.. I dunno wat this outlet is called.. nvr really bothered! The dish is simply awesome, not at all expensive (Rs. 15) and never in so many years have i fallen unwell coz of it! So for me, it serves all the purposes of good and hygenic (!!!) food at cheaper rates.. And at times, i even get it parcelled to take it home (to which my friend once exclaimed "Dont! it will get all soggy by the time u get home!!".. well if anyone of u has a similar concern, well he packs all the ingredients seperately.. :p)

This one is definitely worth a try.. Located towards the MG Road end of Vallabhbaug lane in Ghatkopar east, the pani puri wala is surrounded by other amazing food options from sandwiches to dosas to frankies to pav bhaji to golas n juices n wat not.. all which we shall talk of very soon.. But yes, this one is sumthin u shudnt miss..

So, writing this article gave us one more reason to go and hog on this pani puri once again! And it was just as wonderful as always.. No other words to describe it.. 

 

We and specially me prolly vented out too many emotions with this pani-puri! And rightly so, cz its like one of the things most associated with me..definitely worth to deserve a place in this article.. Wouldnt want you to miss out on this one! :) 

And the third place as liked and known by most Mumbaikars, is the Elco pani puri situated at Bandra..one of the oldest and most liked pani puri..definitely deserves a place in the top 3!!!


Price: Rs 50 per plate
Location: Do we need to say!!

From the authors...

We've seen numerous blogs talking about food and food places in Mumbai..  And truly on reading those, I dont know how well can we do justice to food in Mumbai..! Coz we are not food critics.. Neither are we connoisseurs of food.. We are just simple foodies!


Foodies.. People who love food and love to experiment with food.. People like what you will find in almost every college canteen in Mumbai..or maybe on the railway station, in a movie interval, or regular food joints.. We are among the many people who love feasting on the thele ka pav bhaji & dosa to pizzas & sizzlers in some exotic restaurants.. We love to pamper our taste buds and further love to share the experience..


Our purpose here is not to preach about the best eateries in Mumbai.. Many people can do that, and can do that better than us.. But as 'vella' people in the last semester of college, we have had some great experiences exploring food in Mumbai... And we are here to share those.. 


Like normal college going people, our major constraint of course was Cash! So while sporadically we did have some good spending power to splurge a bit royally, there were also times when we were on major cost-cutting.. We've had our share of sev puris and nachos.. And we wish to talk about those which are the closest to our hearts! :)


Hope you have fun reading about our experiences.. 


PS: We are not really 'writer' material.. If we tend to get boring, please do let us know!:)

Welcome Mumbai..the heaven for all the foodies!!!!

Mumbai....The commercial and entertainment capital of India, it is also one of the world's top 10 centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 5% of India's GDP, and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India, 70% of capital transactions to India's economy.......n what not n what not..!!!!!


Don't worry...here we are really not interested in knowing all this..so chill..we are here just and just to know about Mumbai and its absolutely mouth licking amd mouth watering delicacies..!!!!


I will let you know all the best possible food preparations available in Mumbai at all the best places..be it then the hot and spicy Vada Pao or the buttery and cheesy pav bhaji..


So not a very long wait..we will be there very soon!!!


Cheers...