The food guide
1. Eid. That amazing three letter word and one of the best examples of how much weight just a single word can carry. For members of the Muslim community the sighting of the new crescent moon means the end of Ramzan and a day filled with celebrations and a grand feast of epic proportions to mark the occasion.
2. It is this feast that has captivated me as a child, teenager and as an expanding adult (first horizontally then width-wise). Having seen this for so long it was an opportunity I could not pass up when the chance came up to visit and older part of Mumbai city and experience the celebrations.
3. Our approach to this was pretty straight forward. Go, find, photograph, EAT! The photograph and eat bit were straight forward while the go came courtesy of our long term Tata Bolt. Our effort to find resulted in a rather delicious trip to the legendary Mohammed Ali Road and Colaba area to sample some of the best that Mumbai had to offer.
4. Our first destination was Hotel Noor Mohammadi to get our hands on the some Chicken Hakimi, Nalli Nihari and Chicken Sanju Baba. Chicken Hakimi (RB) and Nalli Nihari (RT) were pure oily goodness while chicken Sanju Baba (LT) is a dish created by Bollywood bad boy Sanjay Dutt for the owners. How it came about is a whole story for another day.
5. As we wrapped up at the restaurant, the sun had begun to set and soon the end of a dry day came to a close with one last and relatively sedate orange flash. All around us life came to a brief halt as many broke their fast with fruits, dates, fried snacks and obviously glasses of refreshing water.
6. Marching between the shops, people and vehicles we reached our second destination which was the Khao Galli (food street) located on Memonwada Road. As much as we would have liked to involve the car for this part of the food trek, it was almost impossible due to the sheer volume of people and shops.
7. To put it plain and simple, this space, roughly ½ a kilometre in either direction is a diverse promenade of culinary smells, tastes and techniques. If you are not used to large crowds and multiple senses being awakened at the same time, we suggest you take a moment to take in everything before you venture ahead.
8. Mumbai has always been a city of immigrants. Many have come and settled on its shores seeking fortune and fame but without wanting to lose their connection to home. This way of thought is most visible in their food habits. Our food street was filled with dishes from across the country giving it a unique colour that is very visible in our photos.
9. Among the delicacies that we sampled, we particularly enjoyed the Hyderbadi Haleem, kebabs (from just about every part of the country) and Mawa jalebis which originated from Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. Others tastes included Paya soup from down south and the evergreen/yellow/white/orange biryani which was being served by the plate loads.
10. Having filled our stomachs with all these dishes, we decided to pursue something in a quieter atmosphere and made our way to Colaba to visit the legendary Bademiyan rolls and kebabs house. It is a well known destination among Mumbaikars and is generally recommended as ‘must go here and stuff face’ for anyone visiting the city.
11. Just around the corner from Bademiyan are the Apna juice centre and Modern Juice centre. Both make good chicken shawarmas and an array of juices as well as milkshakes. Modern also has a tandoor and will serve up hot kebabs as well as vegetarian and non-vegetarian rolls on demand.
12. Our final stop for the night was the Haji Ali Juice Centre. It is a well-known establishment in the ‘roam around Mumbai and eat random stuff at night’ list and serves up a variety of seasonal milkshakes as well as faloodas. Its location at such a busy junction means you get a unique experience of watching traffic fly by as you slowly raise you blood sugar levels!
13. These are just some of the more popular places that we have highlighted with the belief that their offerings should cover a wide range of cuisines. We believe that a city as diverse as Mumbai still has quite a few hidden tricks up its sleeve and a much more detailed approach is probably what could throw light on them.
14. Here are a few things you should take note of before heading off on the food quest.
A. Always carry cash as many of these places especially on Memonwada road are pretty much just tandoors and stalls setup on the tarmac.
B. The crowds are large and moving around all the time and so as is the case with any place of such nature, be careful with your valuables.
C. For the most, you will be out on the streets eating food prepared right in front of you, so grumbling about hygiene will only leave you with an empty stomach.
15. Oh and before we sign off, here is one last shout out to the Tata Bolt which carried us dutifully from point to point and in one case, its boot doubled up as table for us to demolish Haleem and biryani.
Photos: Kapil Angane
