Taking this at face value and not facetious
When you are signed in to a Google account, in the same row as “Directions”
.
.
.
2 Likes
That is the key, isn’t it?
As I said, I’ve made maps for myself, but it’s not just a question of opening a map and saving.
You can’t make a Google map for yourself without signing in - what account would you be saving anything to?
This is a diversion from the OP. My only point is that you cannot simply open a Google map, say “save” and expect magic. There’s work to be done. I’m not as bright as others here, and I’ve found that work tedious. Others will have had other experiences.
Signing into an account is required to personalize anything — whether here or on Google maps.
Not sure what was difficult or tedious about that.
1 Like
“Wow, you know the blogger?”
Several of us do. He’s accurately described as annoying (not just his opinions), but he’s a long time poster (& friend) on mouthfulsfood.com (“Mongo”). Very knowledgable, very sarcastic.
3 Likes
I’ve been saving stuff on Google maps for years, when I travel, and when I’m at home.
I keep a Places to Try List, a coffee shop list, brunch list and patio list going.
2 Likes
I can understand Hindi well and speak it reasonably OK. I can polish it between now and November by practising with a colleague I share my office with, who is a Kashmiri Pandit who lived in Delhi for many years. Is Hindi widely spoken in Mumbai? I thought Marathi would be the main language there?
I am pretty cautious about eating out in India - my dad is a retired gastroenterologist! Will definitely avoid cut fruit and salads. Vegetable fix can be from cooked preparations and dal. And I’m sure we can find whole fruit to purchase.
3 Likes
OK, Sandeep has his thinking cap on for places in South Mumbai. I’ll get back to you later. Any reccs should be pretty much up to date as he back visiting family not so long back.
I know you won’t have much time, if any, in Nashik but he makes a couple of suggestions. There are vineyards in the area which make good quality wine and offer tastings. He recommends Sula Wines.
Nashik’s street food speciality is Misal Pav (his restaurant does a lovely version). He suggests these two places -
https://www.instagram.com/grape_embassy?igsh=MTUxOWYzaGxoOGdybw==
5 Likes
Thanks @Harters - in Nashik we will probably end up having to follow whatever plan has been arranged for the wedding entourage. But I was interested to learn about Misal Pav, this is the first time I’ve heard of it.
The wedding is actually being held at, I think, the resort attached to the Sula Vineyard. It is a place called Beyond Sula. So we have a good chance of sampling Sula wines! The last time I tried Sula wine was circa 1995 in Goa and it was not good. But I’ve heard it has improved a fair bit in recent years. Fingers crossed 
2 Likes
Hmmm. I’m not sure what FTC is, but it looks like I can contact him via the blog itself. Will have a good read through and try and get in touch with Mr Annoying Opinions once I’m finished drafting an initial plan.
1 Like
Sandeep actually said the same thing.
1 Like
FTC is Food Talk Central, another discourse food site created by a Former Chowhound in 2015. Some posters here also post on Food Talk Central.
2 Likes
Thanks for clarifying this. When I did an online search, the first thing that came up was the Federal Trade Commission, and then First Tech Challenge community, both of which seemed unlikely forums for food-related discussions!
1 Like
Food Talk Central’s regional boards aren’t typically as broad as ours are here at HO. I can see why it wouldn’t come up as a top result online for food talk in Mumbai, or Toronto! There are in depth chats for California and other parts of the States, I think.
1 Like
Misal & Usal are Maharashtrian specialties – the former is made with sprouted moth/math, the latter also has safed vatana/ragda (white peas). Topped with chaat-type toppings: raw onion, kothmir (cilantro), and sev or mixed farsan.
I’d venture a guess that they’ll be offered at your Nashik hotel as part of a regular breakfast, but they are ubiquitous across the state and everywhere in Mumbai too (masala varies from region to region, Kolhapuri is the spiciest, but they’re all pretty spicy).
You might find the Maharashtrian Cuisine thread here an interesting read.
ETA: The other ubiquitous cuisine of Mumbai is Gujarati. There’s a lot of it in the UK, but most of that is via Africa, so I’d recommend you try it in Mumbai for a baseline.
3 Likes
Then you’ll be fine. Most likely you’ll encounter drivers who understand English but don’t speak it fluently, but do speak Hindi, so you can parallel-language it too 
Everyone in Mumbai speaks Hindi (and on the way to Nashik and in Nashik they’ll understand it if not speak it fluently).
Marathi is the state language, so there was a baseline educational requirement for a few years of Marathi in school.
Hindi was widely considered / imposed as the national language (though it isn’t, it’s one of the 2 Official Languages of the central govt – English being the other). There are 22 officially recognized languages in the constitution.
Haha I do remember you mentioning this elsewhere.
I am extra cautious about raw stuff and water (though I drink Aquagard / purified water at trusted sources like hotels) and preemptively use probiotics and digestive enzymes the whole time, especially when indulging more than usual (heavy food at weddings and restaurants, a stream of outside eating, and so on).
2 Likes
Marathi is indeed the main language. That’s what you’ll hear in the streets. But Hindi is widely understood.
1 Like
thanks to steve r for alerting me to mentions of my blog here. i came over to check and realized that i actually had a hungry onion account.
anyway, i’m not sure how many meals medgirl is looking for recs for in bombay or how many people will be in her group but here are some suggestions.
- if anyone recommends going to trishna, disregard all their other recommendations. local food mavens will tell you that trishna has not been good for more than 20 years. it’s famous for being famous.
- mahesh lunch home’s best days are probably also behind them but they’re a plausible option if you are in south bombay and want to eat mangalorean food. their crab ghee roast is still very good.
- britannia is now a shadow of a shadow of itself but i think you still have to go there to get a glimpse of a bygone bombay. get the berry pulao and don’t expect too much.
- unless you are starved for good north indian food wherever you live, give that stuff a miss in bombay. though still better than the versions available in the west, it’s not the city’s strong suit. instead you should eat the food of the city’s various peoples (both the ones who claim to be native and established migrant communities): various southwestern coastal cuisines, marathi food, gujarati food, malayali and other south indian food. alas, there aren’t really any great parsi restaurants.
places that i would recommend without reservations:
for seafood:
chaitanya (dadar west), jai hind (many locations), highway gomantak (only one location in bandra east). chaitanya is great for malvani food; highway gomantak for hindu goan food; jai hind for food from various parts of the southwestern coast. chaitanya and highway gomantak very easy if dining solo as the thalis are the smart play there. if in a group at highway gomantak, everyone should get the veg. thali and you should get the fried bombil and rava-fried prawns and some more fried fish to share. gajalee also very good for seafood but all their locations (as far as i know) are further away from south bombay than all of the above.
for gujarati food:
swati snacks or soam. foodie bombay splits down the middle between swati and soam for this kind of food. i am firmly in the swati camp. go to the tardeo mothership; expect to wait if going at prime lunch/dinner time. get the panki with chutney and the thalipeeth.
shree thaker bhojanalay. If you want to have one hardcore gujarati-rajasthani thali experience, you may as well have it at this vegetarian institution in kalbadevi. don’t eat breakfast, don’t plan to eat dinner; expect your life expectancy to be reduced by at least 3 years.
for mod takes on traditional food:
bombay canteen (parel) and/or o pedro (bkc). the former for modern pan-indian food, the latter for modern goan food. it’s possible to have an excellent meal at bombay canteen depending on what you order, but it’s also possible to have just a very good meal (still better than anything in the u.s). o pedro i’ve only ever had excellent food at. neither is a good idea if not in a group of 3-4 as you won’t otherwise be able to try much. approaching bombay canteen you can also get a glimpse if so inclined of a particular strand of the city’s gentrification. bombay was once a city of mills. now it’s a city of mills that have been torn down and turned into other things.
call slink & bardot in worli and see if they are still doing the koliwada tasting menu. if so, go there and eat it. the kolis have the best claim to being the original inhabitants of what is now bombay/mumbai but it’s hard to find koli restaurants. but slink & bardot is on the edge of the worli koliwada and has lots of staff from the neighbourhood and their cheffy take on the cuisine is very good and very interesting. if they don’t have that anymore, don’t bother with slink & bardot.
i’ve not been to masque yet but if you want to try that kind of thing, enough people i trust have liked it a lot (though some have found it meh). i’ve not been to indian accent bombay but the delhi mothership is amazing.
for marathi food:
tambe arogya bhuvan/tambe uphar gruh. simple, vegetarian marathi fare in dadar west.
for malayali/kerala food:
delux/e is located a hop, skip and jump from mahesh lunch home in fort and serves excellent malayali food. not sure if they serve the banana leaf sadhya on weekdays but if they have it, get it, and get some fish and meat dishes to go with.
i have reviews of most of the above on my blog. not sure why i never got around to reviewing the other mentioned places that i have eaten at. will try to fix that when i’m in the city again for five weeks next spring.
warning: some/many of the places listed above may have “multi-cuisine” menus. this is the bane of indian dining. ignore any/all north indian, chinese, continental menu sections and get to the stuff they really do.
9 Likes
Always good to hear a local voice reporting from the ground here! 
1 Like
