A Small Mumbai Guide

Done to help a friend visiting India....nothing extensive but hope it is helpful...

Well we will divide the list of food places into two types of places…the ubiquitous street food and the elite restaurant food….

Street Food
Foods that you must try

1. A Vada Pav (spiced boiled potato in batter with a piece of bread)

This is a common man’s burger in the state of Maharashtra…also known as aloo bonda down south…you get good ones almost at any street corner…however the best ones I have eaten are available at
a. Krishna (opposite Chabbildas school in Dadar West)
b. Jumbo King outlets (their outlets are available close to most railway stations). Their garlic sauce that they serve is smacking.
c. Roadside stall outside National College, Bandra (West). The addition of onions is quite refreshing.

2. Bhel Puri (a spicy mix of puffed rice, potatoes, onions and chutneys)

This is available at most road side stalls…however to be spoilt for choices is good and some of the best bhel puri’s you get are at
a. Juhu Beach
b. Chowpatty (located close to Charni Road station)

3. Sev Puri (very similar to Bhel Puri difference is the mixture is served on small and hard)

4. Pani Puri (a hollow balloon looking puff filled with potatoes and herbed water)

This is known by various names all over India….Pani Puri being one….Gol Gappa for the Delhites…Puchka for the Bengalis….all the same with a sweet and sour water…
a. Elco Market (Bandra West)
b. Any Kailash Parbat outlet

5. Indian Pancakes (batter of pulses with varied fillings or just coriander)

This is an absolutely delectable dish…a must try….
There is only one place where I know they make them amazingly well….it is located in one of the intricate market areas of old Mumbai and might be difficult to locate unless you are with a localite

6. Ragda Pattice (a savoury pulse dish with a potato patty)

It is a dish found with a lot of variations across India. It is found at
a. Most road side stalls which server Pani Puri/Sev Puri/Bhel Puri
b. Kailash Parbat outlets
c. Tharu Mithai walla (Khar West)

7. Kebabs

A delicacy from the northern regions of India, these delectable kebabs (veg as well as non veg) are best eaten at
a. Bade Miyan located behind the Taj Mahal Hotel
b. Donna Kebab located opposite JW Mariott at Juhu Tara Road

Restaurant Food

Mumbai has an amazingly large number of restaurants of all kinds .. big..small … specialised …. general…the list is endless….listing a few of my favourites…and a few well known ones

1. Govinda

This restaurant is located on the grounds of the ISKCON temple in Juhu. The food is purely vegetarian and contains no garlic and onions as well. Pretty calm and serene a lovely place to visit

2. Cream Centre

This restaurant is available at two locations, Bandra West and Chowpatty. Delectable food and lots of variety.

3. Bombay Blues

A restaurant with a mix of cuisines. The food is quite reasonably priced and service is good. Restaurants at Bandra, off Link road and Opposite Shoppers Stop Andheri

4. New Yorkers

This restaurant is available at two locations, Juhu and Chowpatty. Delectable food and lots of variety.

5. Flags

This restaurant is available at two locations, Malad West and Churchgate. Delectable food and lots of variety.

6. Rajdhani

Traditional Gujrati food in a eat as much as you can format. Amazing home made style Gujrati food.

7. Kulfi Centre

This place offers the best kulfi’s ever. Kulfi is an Indian ice cream made with cream and milk and loads of nuts and fruits of various varieties. It is located across the Chowpatty beach at a corner.

Other dishes you could try while in Mumbai

Falooda
Bhajiyaas
Misal Pav
Zunka Bhakar
Sweet Treats from Tharu (for traditional Sindhi sweets)
Various snacks like chakris, mathris, channa chor garam

Places you could visit while staying in Mumbai

Gateway of India, Churchgate
Nariman Point, Churchgate
Chowpatty Beach
CST Terminal (Railway)
All the various markets like Crawford Market, Bhendi Bazaar, Mohmmad Ali Road
Bandra Reclaimation Area
Bandra Worli Sea Link
Juhu Beach
Elephanta Caves

Precautionary measures:

Always keep your passport and other travel documents along with your cash/travellers cheques safely. Although not all areas but some areas across Mumbai are notorious for pick pocketing.

If you are carrying a travel bag ensure important belongings are not in the outer pockets.

Autorickshaws in the suburbs are an easy way to travel, if you want to avoid being crushed in a local bus. The fare is equal to what the meter displays and always insist that the rickshaw driver runs his meter. Avoid rickshaws that are already waiting at a corner or have been idle for a long time as their meters tend to be fixed and you land up paying way too much than the actual fare

For travel in the city part taxis charge a fare of INR 15.00 for every kilometre. So if the meter says 2 00 pay the taxi guy only INR 30.00. For travel to some places you can use shared cabs that have a fixed fare.

AC cabs charge a fare of INR 20.00 per kilometre. (Not sure of this.)
You have AC buses plying on some routes.

Avoid paying alms to beggars.

For your hotel and train bookings across India visit
http://www.makemytrip.com

For more reviews and latest happenings visit
http://mumbai.burrp.com/

It’s a lovely city and the people are warm. And like any city across the world you need to be cautious. Hope you have a safe trip and enjoy the city of Mumbai.

Puliogare

Tamarind Rice or Puliogare has its root in Tamil cuisine. This dish comes from Thanjavur, the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. The dish is a simple rice preparation usually consumed as a snack.

Puli = sour taste and Ogara = rice , thus Puliogare translates as sour tasting rice. Puliogare is also known as Huli anna or Tamarind Rice in some parts of Karnataka. It is traditionally made using steamed or boiled rice mixed with tamarind juice (hence it is also known as tamarind rice), peanuts (moongfali), fresh coriander (dhaniya), fresh or dried coconut, red chilli (lal mirch), curry leaves (kadi patta), jaggery (gur) for that sweet taste, black pepper (kali mari), mustard (rai), fenugreek (sukhi methi), asafoetida (hing), urad dal and cumin (jeera).

Puliogare is also prepared during special occasions such as festivals. Puliogare is particularly known to be a specialty of the Iyengar community, and you will find that the temples associated with this community have some of the best Puliogare

Given below are some of the recipe's by varied people to make Puliogare

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Puliogare

http://chitra-ammas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2008/03/puliogare-or-tamarind-rice.html

http://simplyaroma.blogspot.com/2008/04/puliogaretamarind-rice.html


A simple yet heart warming dish that you can enjoy as a snack or a meal in itself.

http://www.mtrfoods.com/masalapowders/puliogare.htm

This is the simplest method of making Puliogare as I know it. Its a ready - made masala in which you just add cooked rice and voila!!! Your Puliogare is ready to be gorged on....


Enjoy your southern fare!!!!!

Spoons you eat with

Well we always don't really care about the utensils we eat food with. But with the increasing interaction we have with people overseas and more meetings with them, is making us aware of their customs and etiquette's at the table.

This part of the post will cover the different types of spoons that we eat with. No there are more than just the teaspoon and tablespoon :). Next time pay careful attention and identify which spoon you ate with.

We start with the humble and well know teaspoon :)

The humble teaspoon measures at 5ml as per normal standards. Tea spoons are not just used for stirring your tea :P, they also get used for stirring your milkshakes and eating the vanilla ice cream from your favourite choco latte with ice cream :) Given below is an image of one of those long stemmed teaspoons.

Well after the teaspoon lets visit the big brother the tablespoon

Big brother measures almost thrice as much as the teaspoon i.e. 15 ml. According to me most of the recipes require you to use heaps of tablespoon measurement unless they specifically mention level tablespoon measures. Heaps allow you to add that right touch of seasoning or masalas to your cooking. These days in you get varied measuring spoon sets in the market which would normally include a measure for each: tablespoon, 1/2 tablespoon, 1/4 tablespoon and a teaspoon.

Moving on we come to the cute sweet little coffee spoon.This cute little spoon is the perfect accompaniment for that post meals coffee or a cuppa coffee in the morning to drive those sleepy blues away......Remember those cute little coffee stirrers (so we assumed) which were actually coffee spoons served with the Cafe Coffee Day's hot coffee's...well its actually a spoon :D..... What say about our lack of knowledge!!!!!!

Before moving to more obscure spoons one more spoon which is common knowledge is the soup spoon. These spoons normally used for that hot bowl of man chow or sweetcorn soup is something we all cherish. These spoons are ornately designed in most of the fancy restaurants....however our local dhaba or roadside stall would have the plain plastic ones which serve the purpose as well....

However these spoons are not used for eating the more heavy soups containing cream....the ones that come to mind are the European soups like the vegetable cream soup, onion cream soup.....Shown below is one of the spoons used to drink the cream soups...

Be it Onion Cream Soup or the rich all time favourite Tomato Soup..This elegant looking instrument is used for the heavier soups (cream based)

Moving to the next spoon the grapefruit spoon

This spoon is traditionally used for spooning melons and grapefruit...notice how the spoons edge is pointed instead of rounded like the normal teaspoon...

We use salt in all our dishes on a daily basis....however very few of us will know that there is actually a spoon dedicated to the use of salt in olden days...guess our ancestors were smarter than us Given the increasing rate of people suffering from high blood pressure, I think this spoon will make a comeback as an accompaniment in all restaurants where each dining member can pick the amount of salt he/she wants to consume. Shown below is a spoon filled with salt... Moving on to a special spoon .... the marrow spoon. Used especially to remove the marrow from the bones....this spoon is rarely used these days

A popular spoon with kids and elders alike is the egg spoonBesides the distinctive looks of this spoon....it also helps in removing of the shell of the egg and works as an egg holder too....egg spoons are still used in many hotels worldwide for boiled eggs......

The next spoon to get our attention is the dessert spoon...

Normally a spoon between the teaspoon and tablespoon the dessert spoon is used especially for desserts....in a table arrangement this spoon is the closest to the plate if dessert is your last course

If however coffee is the last course of your meal you will have the demitasse spoon next to your plate...

This diminutive spoon is used to scoop up the froth of your cappuccino and other frothy drinks...A fancy version of this spoon is here

This spoon is different from the coffee spoon as they have distinctive functions. The coffee spoon is used for stirring the coffee and this is used for eating the froth....

The bouillon spoon:This spoon is used extensively used in French cuisine.....to eat any kind of a broth....meat or vegetable or a combination of both...

Finally the only spoon that cannot be a steel or silver spoon....the caviar spoonYou can have a lot of ornate spoons and silver spoons but the caviar spoon made from mother of pearl, gold, animal horn or wood is definitely most expensive....Caviar in itself is not a food for the common man....often snubbed as the food for the rich caviar has a distinctive taste which should not get affected by any spoon that reacts with the substances present in the caviar..

This is it .... a lot of knowledge about spoons!!!!! Hope it helps

Bon apetite!!!!

Tastes of India Survey

Well time to launch our first survey and here it is:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228ZERA5M6F

Just a basic survey to see the eating preferences of the people of India.

Since I am assuming I can get a wide viewer base am hoping to get a whopping response.

Till then Itadakimasu!!!!

Things I have set out to cover

Well my first post on the blog and its going to be a brief description of what this blog is all about.
It is going to be a myraid collection of items including but not limited to

1. My own creations (recepies)
2. History about food of a particular region
3. Surveys on peoples food habits
4. Hotel/Restaurant reviews
5. Different meal types
6. Table etiquette
7. Identification of food equipment
8. Review of varied food related gadgets
9. My personal anecdotes with food
10. Handy tips

If there are any other topics that you the discerning reader would like to know about please feel free to post it in the comments.

Till then Bon Apetite!!!