Another day of Ganpati visiting — with more featured eats 
Chaat night at one spot — complete with a pani puri wala doling them out piece by piece! Now THIS was the pani puri of my childhood.
There are BIG BIG BIG differences in pani puri around India.
Two major factors — (1) water (“pani”) (2) filling
Bombay is my (the?) OG - two types of water, one spicy / tangy, one sweet, and the guy mixes to request for every bite (first dip in sweet, second in spicy).
In Kolkata (puchka / phuchka / fushka / fuchka) the filling is seasoned potatoes - and no sweet / tangy water, only spicy.
In Delhi (gol gappa) - no filling, there is a bit of boondi in the water - also no balance to the water.
In Bombay you often get a mix of boiled potato, moong beans, and red channa.
But the “real deal” Bombay filling is Ragda — stewed white peas, served hot, in contrast with the cold mix of waters.
So in addition to the textures (soft, crunchy, liquidy), and flavors (sweet, spicy, tangy), you also get a temperature differential in your mouth as the puri explodes in there 
Also why Pani Puri and Ragda Pattice (the stewed white peas served over potato patties( stalls used to be adjacent or run by the same guy.
Well, THIS GUY had the RAGDA! (And the guy on our street corner when I was young —who always ratted me out to my mom, btw — “mummy said only 1 plate this week, okay? ” RAT!).
We stuffed our faces 1 puri at a time till I counted 6 puris to a plate, even though we didn’t actually need to stop (I just wanted to make sure I had room for other chaat 
).
Then on to Dahi Batata Puri (same puri, but potato stuffing, yogurt and chutneys instead of the water).
And finally a tiny round of Sev Puri which is my Achilles.
I did not eat dahi vada, papdi chaat, or samosa chaat, nor any sweets, in case you’re wondering.
After everyone was done eating, we made fun of how bad Delhi and Kolkata “chaat” is — and recounted our disastrous personal first encounters with non-Bombay chaat. That was a lot of fun, because I thought it was just me about Delhi chaat
.
I didn’t take any pics at the next stop even though there were even more things served there, all homemade — we were too busy chatting.
Menu there: homemade spring rolls, mini mexican pizzas, avocado dip, crostini, crackers and hummus, dhoklas, khandvi, samosas, sweets, fruit
