1. The holy month of Ramzan has passed and it is now time for celebration. The arrival of Eid signifies a period of celebration, family time and feasting!
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 where we had Chicken Hakimi, Nalli Nihari and Chicken Sanju Baba. Chicken Hakimi and Nalli Nihari were pure oily goodness while chicken Sanju Baba is a dish created by Bollywood bad boy Sanjay Dutt for the owners.
5. As left for the next destination, 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 water.
6. Marching between the shops, people and vehicles we reached the Khao Galli (food street) located on Memonwada Road.
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 here seeking fortunes 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.
9. Among the delicacies that we sampled, we particularly enjoyed the Hyderbadi Haleem, kebabs and Mawa jalebis which originated from Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. Others included Paya soup from down south and the evergreen/yellow/white/orange biryani which was being served by the plate loads.
10. Having filled up on starters, we decided to pursue something in a quieter atmosphere and made our way to Colaba to visit Bademiyan. 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.
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
