Chowpatty Beach

Sev Puri has an interesting balance of sweet, salty, tart and spicy flavors, and different textures as well, including crispy and crunchy from the fried sev thin noodles. It also s includes tomatoes, onions, chillis as well as tamarind.

Pani Puri has similar sweet, tart, salty and spicy flavours but in a liquid form in a crisp shell.

Pao Bahji at Chowpatty Beach (mashed vegetables, red chilli and spices cooked with plenty of butter, scooped up and eaten with the fresh Pao bread bun)

Kulfi at Chowpatty Beach (an ‘ice cream’ made with condensed milk, delicious!)

            Bendi Bazaar

   Chicken sandwich and Chicken and Cheese Rolls on Mohamed Ali Road

   Jalebi sweets on Mohamed Ali Road (made by deep frying wheat flour batter shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup.)

  

Taj Icc Cream on Mohamed Ali Road ( fantastic Alphonso Mango Ice cream)

CST Terminus at night (Mumbai’s largest train station) (The scene of the finale in the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’)

Mumbai is famous for its street food and a great way to be guided through some of the best  is to join one of Reality Tours and Travel’s Street Food Tours for around $AUS 24 per person. (This of course covers you for the cost of a very generous dinner, so you really only need a snack for lunch as well.)

The three hour tour starts at 5:30pm and first takes visitors to Chowpatty Beach to enjoy snacks with local families out for a treat. Don’t miss the ‘Famous Rabdi Kulfi’ stall for delicious layers of cream, pistachio, mango, orange and strawberry kulfi. Chowpatty Beach is also a great chance to try Mumbai’s signature street foods Pao Bhaji and Pani Puri.

The tour continues to Bendi Bazaar, a wonderful for street food in the Muslim area of Mumbai. Mohammed Ali Road was really buzzing during Ramadan as people broke their fast and enjoyed their favourite foods from busy stalls. This stop included the popular Taj Ice Cream shop – in business for over 120 years.

Second and third serves were generously offered and our guide Nilesh was terrific – thoughtful, friendly, engaging and knowledgable. As it was low (rainy) season, we had the tour all to ourselves, a special privilege.

 

 

 

 

 Brittania and Company is definitely larger than life. It has become more than Mumbai’s most famous family run, old style Parsi cafe, it’s a real experience.

Mr Kohinoor, 92 years, engages customers with his experiences of famous visitors of state and his keen mind is great fun. We left with well wishes for Mr Abbott and a re-telling of a bold letter of life advice to Julia Guillard. 

We tried the famous mutton berry pulao, the Parsi dish  of Chicken Dhansak, the ‘to die for’ caramel custard ( it was very good) and took a generous fellow diner’s pic of their Sali Boti (which I will have to go back for, it looked so good).

But most of all we left having had a great time.

(This three minute ABC Radio National Britannia & Co. spot says it all, well worth a listen).

 

Address
Wakefield House 11, Opposite New Custom House, Near To Grand Hotel, Sprott Road 16, Ballard Estate, Mumbai
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 400038
Phone 022-22615264, 022-30225260
Hours
Mon – Sat: 11:30 am – 3:30 pm

(Can get very busy so worth booking ahead.)