well i've spent several months now chronicling my travels around the subcontinent. i'd say it's time i gave a little attention to my own little corner of this country. in my months here, in between travels, i've had some time to explore little bits of this massive city and have even been lucky enough to have some visitors to show around. and so, here i have some favorite places i shared with them and will now share with you, dear reader (since i assume there is only one of you).
if you ask any mumbaiker what they love or miss about the city, chance are the first thing (or twenty) will be food. (i distinctly remember hour-long conversations about food my friends had before my arrival that i understood almost none of.) true, the same goes for pretty much any indian, but i think many would agree that mumbai has some of the best street food around, and there's no shortage of variety here. i figured it was a good place to start.
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| mmm.. spicy non-veg... |
i got a crash course in street food early on at muhammed ali road, which i chronicled
here, and then again
here. it's basically a place where, particularly during ramadan, you can find all manner of sweets (both subtly sweet and syrupy, deep-fried) and non-veg deliciousness. the atmosphere is electric, with families out to celebrate and young people buzzing around gorging on the amazing food. i'll be sad when ramadan rolls around in july and i can't find my way back here.
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| pav bhaji: just add butter! |
then there are the street foods you can get any time of year. the most famous of these, of course, is vada pav. the portuguese influence in bombay is most evident in foods like this, that include bread (that would be the pav/pau). vada pav is a delicious little fried ball of potatoes, spices and green chilis served on a bun with green chutney and a dry red chutney powder. they can be found on just about every street corner, especially in the south. just look for a crowd of men standing around eating. then wash it down with a rs. 5 glass of sugar can juice (which will probably be found no more than ten feet away). also in the pav family, we have the famous pav bhaji. i like to think of this as an indian sloppy joe, although it's totally vegetarian. don't worry, though, the vast variety of vegetables are tempered by the paula deen-levels of butter in this dish. i watched it being made in this giant tawa and it was almost grotesque. we're talking
bricks of butter here, people. but of course that's also what makes the dish so delicious. you can find it at almost any little cafe or beachside stand. at juhu beach you can sit on the steps and beckon someone over for the extra bread (don't worry, it's got butter on it too) that you will inevitably need.
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| beach corn |
while you're at juhu beach (a veritable street food heaven) you should try some roasted corn. walking along the crowded sands, in between the photo hawkers and the local picnickers, you'll invariably find someone at a cart roasting ears of corn over the hot coals. he may even let you fan the fire yourself. but whatever you do, be sure to get lemon and masala on it. otherwise it's just a plain old ear of corn. the tangy spiciness makes you lick your lips after every bite - you'll never want to eat corn any other way.
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| name your poison |
but my favorite snack at juhu beach has to be the gola, another of mumbai's claims to foody fame. while to the untrained eye it's basically a snowcone, in reality it's so much more. for one thing, the ice is crushed before your eyes on a great old metal hand-powered grinder that you just know weighs 40 pounds. the ice is served on a stick and the syrup (stored in old whisky bottles) is poured into the cup it's served in. so that, when the flavor from your snack inevitably drips down to the bottom, you just dip it back in the cup. ingenious, right? and the syrups - as you can probably see from the image - come in a wide variety, including typically indian fruits and flavors like mango, khus, and rose. and you have the option to drizzle the whole thing with malai, fatty fatty coconut goo, that just makes the whole thing extra creamy/sticky/delicious. now your only problem is trying to not drip onto your feet. (yeah, right)
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| lights, smoke, action |
then there are the late-night foods. quick snacks, like kebabs and chicken tikka rolls that are great for post-beer wandering down south. bademiya is probably the most famous such establishment. you'll see it from afar with its billowing smoke and crowds of people milling around. there are plastic tables too, but the food's so fast you hardly even need to sit down. in the few minutes you spend waiting for your seekh kebab or chicken roll you can watch the guy making the rumali (super thin) roti by spinning and spreading the paper-thin dough over the stone dome - it's mesmerizing. like watching master crêpier on the streets of normandy. also across the street is a great dive bar, gokal, that has some of the best kheema (minced meat and spices) i've ever had.
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| also a staple: paper menu under plastic table cover |
also in the south (mostly) you'll find a fair amount of parsi food. the city has a substantial parsi population although it, along with the number of persian cafes, is dwindling. the ones that remain are some of the oldest and most interesting though. the décor looks as though it hasn't changed in fifty years (it probably hasn't) - dust-covered frames hang filled with deceased relatives, musty plastic chandeliers hover over checked tablecloths covered in plastic. yellowing wallpaper peels off walls covered in old posters or placards ('upstairs for family only'). in short, charming. you can go to britannia for the famous berry pulao, teapot cafe for its chicken dhansak or ideal corner for one of their changing weekly specials. but my favorite thing to do is go to kyani and enjoy the standard irani chai and bun maska. the joy is in the simplicity - irani chai is essentially regular chai with a little something special (it's also called special tea) and a bun with butter. generally this means a lot of butter (you're shocked, i know) but i shamelessly scrape the excess off with my finger before devouring it.
a stone's throw from kyani is metro theater, one of the oldest in the city. virtually every book i've read that takes place in bombay has made reference to at least one of these classic theatres - metro, eros, regal. though metro has been redone inside into a 6-screen multiplex, at some of the others balcony tickets can still be had for rs. 150 or less. there are also some in the grant road area (just past the red-light district, apparently) that constantly run cheesy movies from the '90s (think DDLJ) for a pittance. like the parsi cafes, these theatres are some of my favorite relics of a bygone past that nevertheless remain a vibrant part of the cityscape.
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| yes this is bombay |
actually the south is full of such buildings. even if the façades are dirty and neglected, you can't hide the beauty of some of these structures. they're even more beautiful in the mossy, high saturation of monsoon season, when i first began wandering among them. in the fort area you'll find quasi-sassanian parsi buildings along MG road, neo-gothic revival style over by the oval maidan (the big open grassy space that always reminds me of the mall in DC - just substitute softball games for cricket and football), and of plenty of art deco (second largest number of art deco buildings in the world!). even a few baroque buildings (blue synagogue). i love meandering around the fort area - you turn a corner or wander down an alley and all of a sudden you look up and find yourself in a street that could be somewhere in europe. well, until you almost run into a cow in the road.
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| the dark horse |
just south of fort is the kala ghoda area. so close, in fact, that i'm not entirely sure where one ends and the other begins. it's named for the black horse statue that no longer stands there. even the cool mural (pictured) has been painted over since i took the photo, sad. the area's great for all the galleries and cafes peppered throughout it. artisan's gallery, which caters to craftspeople throughout the country, the institute for contemporary indian art, the jehangir gallery, with its famous art café and many spaces with constantly changing exhibitions - all are great to wander in and out of. you can see some pretty great artists in these and other galleries. also nearby is the national gallery of modern art, which has a surprisingly nice little collection, and which shamefully few people are even aware of.
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| shor in the chor |
another of my favorite little pockets of the city is chor bazaar. a funny name (as 'chor' means thief), it actually derives from the word 'shor' (referring to the noise-level - much more appropriate). but somehow chor stuck, and chor it remains. i'm generally a fan of all things old and cheap so flea markets are sort of my thing. and any flea market that includes things like ancient cameras, rusted old tea tins, and vintage bollywood posters has my seal of approval. this goes without saying, but also a great place to hone your haggling skills. you know, if you [scoff] need that sort of practice.
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| standing |
well as long as we're talking about old things, i feel i have to mention the national park. a bit of a hike, up at borivali (though really only a train ride away) the national park contains the kanheri caves, some of which date back as far as 1st century BCE. while, true, it's no ellora, you will still see some pretty old buddhas without having to leave the city limits, or spend the better part of your day on a boat to the elephanta caves (which i am told are overrated). the caves are carved right out of the hills and the shallow steps criss-cross all over the gently sloping rocks. i never did figure out the number system, but suffice it to say that there are over 100 caves. even if you don't make it to them all (and really, i doubt you would) you'll see your fair share of pretty impressive statues and deep relief carvings (and some that are less deep: 'vijay 2004'..). definitely worth the trip. but maybe don't wait till midday in one of the hotter months to go there, like we did..
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| sun down, lights on |
rounding out the list of typical must-do highlights on the mumbai list is the haji ali dargah. it's on every major tourist list, and for good reason. it's sort of like the mont saint-michel of the city, a mosque you can only reach at low tide. when i visited it happened to be the perfect time of day. the sun was low in the sky and the breezes coming in off the sea were blowing our dupattas around our shoulders. we made the walk on the raised stone path, leaving the tall city buildings and stones near the shore behind us. we walked all over the mosque itself, buzzing with activity before the evening prayers. then just as we were getting ready to make the trek back the lights came on and the call to prayer began. the mosque looked so beautiful in dusk, with the strings of lights coming on, so of course we stuck around for a bit. when we did make it back to land we rewarded ourselves with an obligatory stop at the famous haji ali juice center. overpriced, maybe, but where else could we find custard apples out of season?
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| marine drive-by |
much of the appeal of haji ali (apart from the juice) is the water itself, of course. no matter what time of day or season - even in pouring rains - people can always be seen along marine drive just sitting facing the sea. young couples arm in arm, kids kicking around a football, or men just staring out at the water. the calm constancy of the sea seems to be a good antidote for the craziness of the city. even as cars whiz by just a few meters away, people seem to take solace in water and soak in the tranquility of the sea. i think there's just something undeniably peaceful about looking out and seeing nothing but rippling water.
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| paperback heaven |
the last - though certainly not least - of my favorite things to do here is shop. india's a great place to shop in general so in mumbai i've found time to uncover some little pockets of great finds. the first of these is flora fountain, my first go-to book stop. sure, there are little stalls and streetside blankets set up with books around the city. but those are very hit-or-miss and often filled with pirated books (boo!). i prefer flora fountain, which has piles and piles of secondhand books attended by friendly and incredibly knowledgeable bookwallas. i just hand them my list and they can tell me immediately if they have any of the titles and, even more impressively, where in the massive stacks they are. most days when i stop by i come home with at least one or two new finds.
then of course there are clothes. down on colaba causeway you can get all manners of shirts and scarves (you can find some nice silk ones if you dig a little) but of course you have to put up with the constant hassling from vendors who at first assume you are a silly tourist. a little farther north on MG road you can find all sorts of men's shirts, belts, underwear - which vendors will try their best to pawn off on you despite being both a woman and clearly uninterested. to round out my shopping i go to hill road, just a short walk/ride from my place in bandra. all kinds of dresses, shoes, accessories, but again, you have to be willing to dig. i have a few favorite go-to spots along the road.. but i can't divulge all my secrets, can i?
