Mumbai Cuisine

About Mumbai Cuisine

By the ULTIMATE Mumbai Editorial Team

Regional Editor, South Asia: Tara de la Motte

Are you planning a trip to Mumbai and wondering what to eat? This is our guide to the city’s food, from the street stalls and the coast to the Irani cafés and the beach at Chowpatty.

Mumbai cuisine

Mumbai cuisine is a melting pot of Maharashtrian heritage, coastal Malvani traditions and the flavours of the communities who made the city their home: Parsi, Gujarati, South Indian and Mughlai among them. As India’s great melting pot, the city has turned simple ingredients into a world-famous street food scene, alongside rich coastal seafood and a much-loved heritage café culture.

Iconic street food staples

Mumbai’s fast pace has created a legendary, inexpensive street food culture centred on the humble pav, the soft bread roll introduced by the Portuguese.

Simple ingredients, a city of many communities and a world-famous street food scene.

Vada pav

Mumbai’s pocket-friendly answer to the burger: a spiced, deep-fried potato patty tucked into a soft bun with fiery dry garlic chutney and a green chutney. Eat it standing at the stall, while it is still hot.

Pav bhaji

A rich, comforting, well-spiced mash of mixed vegetables cooked on a vast flat griddle, finished with a generous knob of butter and served with toasted, buttered buns.

Bombay sandwich

Slices of bread spread with vivid mint-and-coriander chutney and layered with thin slices of beetroot, potato, cucumber, onion and tomato, then dusted with sandwich masala and, as often as not, a snowfall of grated cheese.

Coastal and seafood traditions

On the shores of the Arabian Sea, Mumbai enjoys a wonderful variety of fresh fish, cooked in local Maharashtrian, Konkani and Malvani styles.

Bombil fry (Bombay duck)

Despite the name, Bombay duck is a fish: a delicate lizardfish caught in the waters off Mumbai. Coated in semolina (rava) and fried, it turns shatteringly crisp outside while staying soft and tender within.

Prawns Koliwada

A dish from Mumbai’s Koli fishing communities, named after the Koliwadas, their fishing villages: prawns marinated in a spicy, deep-red batter and fried until crisp.

Surmai curry

Kingfish simmered in a tangy, aromatic gravy of freshly grated coconut, tamarind and the coast’s own spice blends; eat it with rice or soft bhakri.

Heritage cafés and immigrant influences

The city’s food has been enriched by the communities who settled here over the last two centuries, each with its own neighbourhoods and favourite dishes.

Irani cafés

Founded by immigrants from Iran, these old-world cafés, with their bentwood chairs and marble-topped tables, are loved for keema pav (spiced minced mutton with bread), bun maska (a soft bun with thick layers of butter) and cups of sweet, milky Irani chai.

Gujarati thalis

Generous, refillable vegetarian platters of sweet-and-savoury dals, seasonal vegetable dishes such as undhiyu in winter, flatbreads and farsan, the Gujarati savoury snacks.

Parsi berry pulao

A fragrant, sweet-and-savoury rice dish layered with spiced meat or chicken and scattered with tart Iranian barberries, crisp fried onions and cashews, served in the city’s heritage Parsi restaurants.

Beachside chaat and desserts

No food tour of Mumbai is complete without an evening on the sands of Juhu or Girgaum Chowpatty, snacking on sweet, tangy and crunchy chaat.

Bhel puri and sev puri

Crunchy puffed rice, or flat crisp puris, tossed with chopped onion, potato and raw mango and a trio of sweet, tangy and spicy chutneys, then showered with fine sev.

Pani puri

Hollow, crisp shells filled with spiced potato or chickpeas and dipped in chilled, tangy mint-and-cumin water. Eat each one in a single mouthful, the moment it is handed to you.

Falooda

A luxurious chilled dessert drink of rose syrup, milk, vermicelli and sweet basil seeds (sabja), topped with vanilla ice cream or kulfi.

Where to taste it

For street food, follow the crowds to Girgaum Chowpatty and Juhu Beach at sunset; for the classic Mumbai snacks in calm, spotless surroundings, Swati Snacks in Tardeo and at Nariman Point is a city institution. Seek out an Irani café for chai and bun maska, and a Malvani or Konkani restaurant for fish.

Our advice: eat street food where it is busy and cooked in front of you, start a morning with chai and bun maska, and keep one evening for the beach at Chowpatty with bhel puri and a falooda to finish.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Mumbai Cuisine before you go.