Mumbai Street Food Trail

Mumbai's street food is the most diverse, affordable, and flavourful in India — a culinary ecosystem of vendors, stalls, and tiny restaurants serving the foods that feed 20 million people daily and that represent every regional Indian cuisine adapted for the pace of a city that never stops moving. The essential dishes include vada pav (a spiced potato fritter in a bun — Mumbai's burger), pav bhaji (mashed vegetable curry with buttered bread), bhel puri (puffed rice with chutneys), dabeli (a Gujarati spiced potato sandwich), and the dosas and idlis that South Indian migrants brought to Mumbai and that are now ubiquitous.

The most concentrated street food areas include Mohammed Ali Road (the Muslim quarter's late-night food scene, spectacular during Ramadan), Khau Galli near CST (an alley of food stalls serving office workers), and the Colaba Causeway vendors. Leopold Café (a Colaba institution since 1871, mentioned in 'Shantaram') and Bademiya (a late-night kebab institution behind the Taj Hotel) are the most famous individual establishments.