Vada Pav has become very popular in Ontario over the last 5 years. I can even find Vada Pav fairly easily 3 hours west of Toronto in my midsized city of London, Ontario. Even some non Indian establishments now serve Vada Pav.
Definitely try some! Try at least 2, from w different places, so you can compare. 
The only thing I have made a reservation for so far is dinner at Indian Accent. We will probably go for the non-vegetarian tasting menu with one wine pairing. Had to pay a deposit of Rs 2000 to secure the reservation and which will be kept by the restaurant in the event of a no show. It’s interesting that this is potentially an issue in India as well (no shows are certainly a restaurant industry issue in the UK).
This looks interesting, from the same restaurant group as Indian Accent:
https://www.comorin.in/mumbai.php#home
comorin-mumbai-food-menu.pdf (791.0 KB)
I dined at Indian Accent’s Delhi branch back in 2013 - Chef Manish Mehrotra was the first to offer golgappa (pani puri) filled with vodka. I thought he was very inventive, but my Delhi colleagues said Chef Manish actually got his idea from street vendors who spiked their golgappas with toddy or other alcoholic beverages at the request of their working-class clientele.
Boozy pani puri was also being served outside India long before 2013 – it was an extension of martinis and other cocktails based on jaljeera (a popular summer drink that is medicinally spiced with various things including jeera / cumin, and tastes a lot like pani puri water).
My friends have been recently both in Mumbai and in NYC, and it’s good, but keep in mind that Manish Mehrotra left last year, so it’s not going to be quite what made it famous.
If you want other high end things, take a look at Masque. The original chef partner there left as well a few years ago (he has a new project in the foothills of the Himalayas now) – they feature a different chef every year or two. It was certainly a unique experience and meal when I when in early days (western Michelin style tasting menu and experiential meal) but I haven’t been back after the switch.
It’s very new, and infrequent – the only places I have come across it are a couple of high end spots where the tab is going to run up in the vicitniy of 5-10k/pp and reservations are scarce.
I think modern Indian is done really well in the UK (and better than in India for the most part), so you may be better served seeking out typically Indian regional things that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get.
True. But it’s probably more affordable in India and I tend to be on holiday and able to indulge while I’m there.
This is probably the only high end experience we will go for during our Mumbai trip, to celebrate a special occasion. I wanted to get the reservation sorted as they seem to have recently won a hospitality industry prize so I thought it might be difficult to get a booking. The email did make it clear that the reservation would expire unless I paid the deposit within 24 hours, as there was high demand.
I have got numerous restaurants in my Google map which will hopefully cover various regional experiences. I’m just saving them all in the map and then trying to see how these might fit into general Mumbai sightseeing/wandering.
Another thing, I truly think service in the hospitality setting is superior in India. Service in the UK can be hit and miss, even at higher price points. I just find Indian service much better and it makes for a nicer experience. American service - I don’t have much to report on as I haven’t visited since 2012 but it was better than you get in the UK. I still remember the captain at Jean-Georges - she was so lovely to me and my younger sister who were clearly complete fine dining novices.
wow, I used to read anothersubcontinent avidly! So sorry it is gone but glad that this guy is carrying on with his criticism. If I ever have occasion to return I will definitely tune in!
We’re arriving really early in Mumbai on a weekday morning. Now I’m in contact with a car service, so am thinking perhaps I get us picked up from the airport by the car service and ask to hire the car for the whole day. Drop luggage at the airport hotel and then get the car to take us around until check in time. Then I could fit in perhaps some walking around Bandra and Juhu?
Maybe lunch at O Pedro? Or Gajalee (what would be the best options to consider if we are avoiding seafood?)
Breakfast suggestions would be welcome. I guess there are a plethora of high end hotel breakfast buffets we could access but maybe something more Mumbai specific? Gajalee opens at 11am and Jai Hind Lunch Home at 11:30 so I guess they don’t do breakfast.
Places I’ve found in and around Bandra, might be suitable for breakfast:
https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/1166098100186359/good-luck-restaurant/?hl=en
I’m looking forward to your reports!
Coming to the end of my Mumbai trip. Wondering if I should post my reports to this thread or start a new one.
My report will be very different to the ones from @Saregama as I am an outsider and tourist while she has in depth knowledge.
So, all my grand plans of a big wander round Bandra didn’t materialise. We arrived in Mumbai just after 2am, dropped our luggage at the airport Holiday Inn (which was quite grand, not at all what I was expecting) and managed to negotiate an earlier check in, but it meant we had 4 hours to kill before check in and I was feeling pretty rough after the long haul journey. There was absolutely nothing open at 4am apart from some men with canisters on bikes selling chai on the Bandra seafront.
This sign summed up our plight.
There were quite a few folks on the seafront, some engaged in fitness related activities, some chatting and some canoodling. We walked up and down, took a few photos and realised it was only 5am.
So we asked the driver to just drive us around the city and show us anything he felt was interesting. He did a pretty good job, but by 7am I was fading and we went back to the hotel to wait for check in. Big failure to check out eating opportunities in the northern part of the city.
The Holiday Inn was so nice to hang out in, and we were feeling so tired, that we ended up not venturing out anywhere on the first day. I slept like a log for around 6 hours, then went down to the hotel cafe to see what their coffee was like. And it was pretty good! A cortado came with free chocolate cookies:
I was hungry but not very hungry, so ordered some fish fingers, which I’m sure were made from scratch as they were sort of cylindrical logs of moist, flaky white fish coated in panko. Not the sort I bung from the freezer into the oven at home.
I also tried a South Indian filter coffee (forgot to take a photo as I was a bit thrown when it arrived in a ceramic cup of the sort you’d usually get a cappuccino in). This came with free cookies with an Indian twist - think shortbread like fingers with almond and cardamom. The filter coffee was meh but the Indian cookies were amazing.
Later in the evening we ordered from the Holiday Inn in-house restaurant (Saptami) menu and ate sitting in the cafe because it was a nice setting. I tried the paneer kulcha which was strangely accompanied by some hummus. The kulcha was good, the hummus was not.
And the unexpected star order: tandoori jumbo prawns.
These were so good we ordered another plate. Perfectly cooked and larger than any prawns we come across in the UK (and this was before we encountered the truly jumbo prawns later in the trip). But in terms of value for money, these were a great deal. I can’t remember how much we paid for these, but we got some sort of discount as we were hotel guests.
We hit the Holiday Inn breakfast buffet in the morning before the car picked us up for the long drive to the wedding venue. Again, a buffet I wouldn’t expect to see in a Holiday Inn. Are Holiday Inns in India some sort of different level of hotel? At least 7-8 different counters of different categories of breakfast foods, including a live cooking counter where eggs, bacon and dosa were being made to order. A whole counter of Indo-Chinese options. And a cute Indian street-food style cart displaying local items, including missal pav. This cart was manned by a local woman wearing a very neat sari - she stood out as the only staff member not in uniform. Her badge had her name and below, her role as ‘Passion Cooking’. I guess the hotel has committed to showcasing local cuisine.
I’m never good at a buffet, and I certainly wasn’t going to eat much before a 4-5 hour car journey. I just had a couple of idli and a filter coffee. This filter coffee was much better as they had a proper set-up with a specialist man making the coffee and it was served in the proper metal cup and bowl.
The wedding we went to was at a resort run by Indian winemakers Sula.
My relative had booked out the entire resort for the whole weekend for their daughter’s wedding. It was a very elaborately planned and executed experience and they must have spent an absolute fortune. I am going to get my kid married at the local town hall registry office!
There was so much food on offer - I barely scraped the surface. It was the sort of situation where I sort of couldn’t cope with the bounty on offer and ended up only trying a few items at each meal. My cousins were aghast at my restraint. But the food was so rich that just a few mouthfuls ended up making me feel full. What I did have a lot of was the Sula sparkling rosé, which was really good. There was essentially a free bar at every meal apart from breakfast. Again - what was my relative thinking with the free bar situation?!?! The guests must have drunk an ocean of booze over the entire weekend 
.
I am completely fascinated! More please!!
What @GretchenS said - but with more exclamation points!!!
