Popular Dishes You Must Try In Mumbai

India’s largest city is home to a lot of iconic landmarks such as the Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, Marine Drive, numerous beaches, and of course, it doubles as the place of origin and abode of Bollywood. While all these features might tempt one to travel to Mumbai, a tour to the capital city would be incomplete without a taste of the authentic food. So to help you enjoy your trip to Mumbai with the flavours of this coastal city, here is a list of dishes that you must try when in Mumbai.

The true essence of Mumbai is incomplete without batata vada. One of the staple snacks of the city, batata vada is a combination of potato (batata) mixed with green chillies, lime juice, turmeric, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves to make a deep fried ball (vada).

The most common and one of Mumbai’s signature foods, vada pav is a combination of vada sandwiched in between two buns known as pav. Add to it some green chutney, and you have yourself an authentic Mumbaikar’s delight.

Though available as chaat throughout India, Mumbai is the birthplace of this popular dish. Made with an amalgamation of ingredients unique to each bhelpuriwala, the dish is an indeginous Mumbai snack. Some common ingredients used to prepare bhel puri are puffed rice, onions, raw mango, and many kinds of chutneys.

An unlikely mix of potatoes, cucumber, beetroot, onions, capsicum, cheese and tomatoes added in between two slices of buttered bread make for this authentic tangy dish. Sev and pudina chutney are added on top of the sandwich to give the final touch.

It is only natural for a coastal city to boast of exquisite fish preparations, and in Mumbai, Bombay Duck takes the lead as the most popular fish. Bombay Duck or Bombil is served as a fish dipped in besan, and then fried to present a crisp and flattened fish dish.

The two components of this dish are pav (bread) and bhaji (vegetable). The vegetable preparation is an assortment of vegetables like potatoes, peas, tomatoes and onions, which are cooked in spices and butter. This makes for a rich gravy that tastes oh so good with Mumbai’s very own pav.

One of the healthier snacks in the lost, Puran Poli is popular throughout Mumbai and most of Southern India. It is a flatbread consisting of chana dal, nutmeg, cardamom powder, and gur. The ingredients are made into a paste and then rolled into balls, before being rolled out to be roasted.