Food Trends

A spiced mashed-potato fritter deep-fried in chickpea batter and crammed into a soft pav bun with garlic chutney and a fried green chilli. Mumbai's beloved street 'burger' fuels the whole city, sold from carts on every corner.

A buttery mash of tomatoes, potatoes and mixed vegetables cooked on a giant griddle with fistfuls of spice, served with toasted butter-soaked pav and raw onion. Born in the textile mills, it is Mumbai's ultimate griddle comfort food.

Puffed rice tossed with crunchy sev, diced onion, potato, tomato and tangy-sweet tamarind and mint chutneys. Light, crackly and addictive, it is the quintessential Chowpatty Beach snack eaten from a paper cone.

Hollow crisp shells filled with spiced potato, chickpeas and a shock of cool, tangy tamarind-mint water, eaten whole in one explosive bite. The vendor's rhythm of filling and handing them over is Mumbai street theatre.

A fiery curry of sprouted moth beans topped with crunchy farsan, onion and coriander, served with pav to tame the heat. A Maharashtrian breakfast that wakes you up with one spicy spoonful.

Buttered white bread layered with cucumber, tomato, boiled potato, beetroot and green chutney, then pressed and toasted with more butter. The grilled masala version, dusted with chaat masala, is a Mumbai street obsession.

Flat crisp puris piled with potato, onion, three chutneys and a snowfall of fine sev, balancing sweet, sour, spicy and crunchy in every bite. Chaat in its most colourful, photogenic form.

Minced mutton slow-cooked with onions, tomatoes and warm spices, served with soft buttered pav to scoop it up. A rich, peppery favourite from Mumbai's Irani cafés and night-time meat stalls.

Fresh Bombay duck dipped in spiced semolina and shallow-fried until the edges crisp while the inside stays meltingly soft. A coastal Mumbai delicacy that locals chase during the monsoon season.

A layered dessert-drink of rose syrup, soaked basil seeds, vermicelli, milk and a scoop of ice cream, sipped and spooned at once. Cool, fragrant and a little theatrical, it is how Mumbai ends a spicy meal.