Good Eats MUMBAI

Not on the subject of food, but on the subject of Mumbai:

I’m quite interested to watch this. On the subject of food, in the trailer there is a shot of a woman mixing spicy puffed rice (we call this jhal muri in Bengal, don’t know what it is called in Maharashtra), which to me is iconic amongst the cheap snacks ubiquitous on Indian trains.

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Bhel puri?

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Thanks! In Bengal the puffed rice prep isn’t as elaborate!

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Sukkha Bhel / Dry Bhel – as compared to Bhel (Puri), this has no chutneys. Usually puffed rice (mamra / murmura), finely minced onion, green chilli, dry spices (red chilli powder always, sometimes others), and finished with lime juice and possibly a drizzle of oil. Sometimes peanuts are added.

Less messy on a train (and less work at home) than full-on bhel!

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The trains – both local and long distance – are such a rich source of stories, it is surprising the subject has not been mined further before now (esp by low-hanging fruit type folks).

Mumbai local trains were part and parcel of my life since I was a kid, even though we had a car, because the speed and functionality superseded everything else. It’s the everyday observation that’s fascinating to me more than the Q&A, but I’m intrigued by the link you posted and will try to track the fil down.

Summer 2025 Edition: lots of eating, not much picture taking or reporting.

MAASLI

Seafood and more in a very specific style – GSB / gaud saraswat brahmin. Lately of the Konkan coast, possibly having originated in Kashmir (centuries ago). And yes, meat-eating Brahmins.

We decided to try two thalis at lunch to try a range of dishes without overdoing it. The first was a bombil thali, which isn’t a common offering. The second was a chicken thali, which I always order if it’s on offer.

My favorite dish at coastal places is Fried Bombil / Bombay Duck (a type of local fish, not duck) but I am often disappointed. Not so here – exactly perfect.

The version I had in Hong Kong recently was good, but this is the platonic ideal :joy:

The bombil thali came with a few pieces of the perfectly fried bombil, a bowl of a regional specialty (called phanna curry) with a 3’ baby pomfret – a size I have never seen (as what we call baby pomfret at home is. 5-7" personal-sized fish :grin:), a tiny serving of pungent dried prawns sauteed with masala, chapatis, and rice. Plus a little bowl of sol kadhi – an extract of kokum and coconut.

The chicken thali came with my usual coastal favorites – chicken “sukka”, a dry masala prep, and chicken “gravy”, a saucier and different regional prep. We asked for “bhakri” with this, which is a rice flour flatbread. There was also a tiny bowl of a third kind of gravy, which was also delicious.

Everything was delicious, but it’s hard for me to stray from my favorites that I crave all year – the bombil and the chicken sukka. Next time, I will try some of their less “standard” favorites – the community uses a spice called Tirphal, similar to Sichuan peppercorn, in several dishes, which is unusual in these parts.

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Another thali, composed at someone’s home with takeout from JAI HIND LUNCH HOME.

Mutton Ghee Roast, Mutton Sagoti (aka xacuti), Palak Paneer, an intense Dal Fry, parathas, and rumali roti.

Both muttons were excellent. If I can get out of my usual circuit, I will try to visit the place itself for a meal.

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You might also want to give chaitnaya a try in the prabhadevi area (close to maasli), very similar food.

I love the bombil fry there, it’s perfect every time. their other stuff is good also, with a particular shoutout to their special prawn thali

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A friend was visiting mumbai and asked for some recommendations, I made a list with a focus on south Bombay, since thats where he was staying. here is the list I gave him (I skipped the South Indian places since he was visiting from chennai_

Food places:

Bombay canteen
Chaitanya or Maasli
Thakar bhojanalay
Aram for vada pav
Prakash or diva maharashtra for maharashtrian
Brittania or ideal corner
The fancy cafes in fort have good American breakfast: nutcracker, Kala ghoda cafe
Subko chocolate cafe in colaba
Swati Snacks
Kyani Bakery or Sassanian Boulangerie (for old style Irani cafes)
Olympia for keema-pao or biryani (though personally I think its just ok)

and from a tourist perspective of the sights:

Gandhi museum
Museum of solutions - kids will like it. A bit expensive
Heritage walks in fort area, the tours are good
Restoration of afghan church is phenomenal (visited it over the weekend)
The museums and art galleries might be of interest to art folks

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Thank you. I have eaten there in the past, though not often.

Afghan church has been restored beautifully, as has the Bhau Daji Lad Museum.

I Iove Mani Bhavan (which is what I am guessing you meant by Gandhi museum), they added a floor of dioramas which are both weird and wonderful. They had artists there touching them up and creating some new ones when I took someone to visit over Christmas break.

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GAJALEE

Famous for its seafood, but my favorite thing to eat here is actually the chicken thali (and especially the chicken sukkha).

Completely full even at 2:45pm on a weekday, we waited a few minutes for someone to finish so we could sit in the non-AC section outside (thali not served the AC section).

I was puzzled (and a bit worried, tbh) that the owner wasn’t in his usual chair outside but he came out as we sat down, which was reassuring in its normalcy. As lunch was coming to a close, he sat down at the table adjacent to ours to eat his own lunch, and we had a nice chat about many things, including the hunt for a new space where one closed during the pandemic (much closer to home for us, very exciting). Unlikely to be open by December, but we can hope.

Anyway, the food. Chicken thali and mutton thali, both to share. Plus fried Bombil (Bombay duck) — the gold standard. There are many copies, but this is The One: feather-light coating, shatteringly crisp, and fabulously fresh (same-day catch). The thali includes a bowl of the sol kadhi (kokum in coconut milk) @JenKalb loves, and a bowl of vegetable du jour — I don’t like the bottle gourd that arrived, so they swapped it for brown chickpeas that were AMAZING.

They would always bring out samples of new dishes for my dad to try and give his opinion, and even though I was already stuffed and remembered to say we couldn’t eat anything else, a delicious tandoori dish showed up nonetheless: seafood seekh kabab . Delicious, with a strong kick from their house tandoori paste, which is spicier than most (I once regretted an order of tandoori jumbo crab over butter garlic but still got through it – with tears streaming down my face and nose :rofl:).

No room for dessert (their offerings have expanded from the old days when it was a toss-up between caramel custard and kulfi), but I can eat my weight in the cardamom-scented fennel seeds at the end.

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BAWRI

Regional Indian cuisine in a gorgeous space. Food quality was quite mixed, which was puzzling given the uniformly glowing reviews. Cocktails were excellent, however – they didn’t sound remotely appealing to me, and yet every one I tasted (from my companions) was really good.

The whole raan (goat shoulder) biryani was probably the best thing we ate, tied with bheja (brain) masala stuffed into a crisp dosa parcel.

There was a platter of mixed bhajiyas (fritters in gram flour batter) to start and another of assorted papad that disappeared fast.

Then on to apps: bheja masala in a manipuri black rice dosa, tiger prawns in fermented rechado (red Goan spice paste) butter, potato balls with thecha (Coorg green chilli and peanut spice paste) stuffed with hung curd, and mutton seekh kababs with marrow butter.

Mains were the whole raan biryani and a smoked chicken curry, with two kinds of naan – the house naan with red chilli garlic paste, and the other with garlic confit and kalonji / onion seeds.

Desserts were jalebis with rabdi and a malai kulfi sandwich.

3 tiny kittens had decided to take a nap on the entrance stairway when we left — just adorable.

There’s a paanwala right outside, which was nice — I haven’t eaten anywhere near enough paan this trip.

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It all looks fantastic, especially the brains and the meat item right above the breads - what is that one?

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It all looks so very good!!

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That’s the smoked chicken curry

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TIBBS FRANKIE

Tibbs Meri Jaan like Bombay Meri Jaan :heart_eyes:. This is my 3rd or 4th frankie this trip.

My favorite childhood treat was a Tibbs mutton frankie to break a long evening stroll with friends along the promenade closest to home – the Tibbs stall was right by the seaside at the point where we’d reverse course to walk back home.

I haven’t had my beloved mutton frankie in years because they had become stingy with the meat filling and the quality had declined, but I buckled today, and it was EXCELLENT, maybe even better than I remembered. Rounding out the order were a classic chicken, schezwan chicken, and chaap tikka (vegetarian) – all superb. The chaap (soya-based mock chicken very popular in North India) is a recent addition, and has supplanted paneer as our resident vegetarian’s order.

I opened up the mutton one to redistribute the pickled onions (I love them, the person I was splitting the roll with doesn’t), so the components are visible — paratha coated with egg (anda paratha), meat chunks in a thick gravy, pickled onions, chopped green chillies (omitted here), and finally SECRET :laughing: Frankie “masala” sprinkled over the lot. Then tightly rolled up, first into a paper envelope (peel back as you eat) and then into a thicker paper sleeve (folded origami style to create a cavity to hold the roll). The Classic chicken has shredded chicken in a similar gravy, Schezwan has strips of chicken in a spicy-tangy indian chinese sauce, and chaap tikka as described — like grilled chicken tikka, but with soya mock meat.

We often discuss that different Tibbs outlets (it’s a franchise) produce very different rolls, and when I eat from our favorites, it seems to hold true – #1 Breach Candy, #2 Shivaji Park, #3 Vile Parle.

Thank you for coming to my Frankie TED Talk :rofl:

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PARSI DAIRY FARM – KULFI

Parsi Dairy Farm is an institution for all things dairy, but especially Kulfi – the very particular Indian style of rich, reduced milk ice cream.

Malai (cream) is my favorite, pistachio a close second. Malai tastes purely of caramelized milk: dulce de leche ice cream always remind me of it.

DON’T go putting any nuts or other junk in!!! That’s not Bombay-style kulfi, which is just clean milky-creamy, with a bit of texture from the unhomogenized cream.

(Please admire my mother’s trusty taveta/ square steel spatula, which does a million things more efficiently than any tool in my kitchen, including perfectly slice rock-hard kulfi — and is about to mysteriously “disappear” into my suitcase… good thing she has several :winking_face_with_tongue:)

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Most enjoyable, thank you!

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I have the sense this is better than Bombay Frankie on the UWS :joy::joy:

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