I created this blog 4 years ago but could not write anything on it. Reason being lack of passion for anything in my life. In last four years, I have found things on which I can write passionately – Food, Traveling and Life. Writing this first blog could not be better because I am writing this sitting on Dahanu beach. This is 120 KM away from hustle bustle of Mumbai. Still I am finding very hard to write because of chirpy voices of many school kids playing near by this beach but I would prevail today.
But this blog will not be about Dahanu beach, that would be my second one. I want to write my first blog about food. Recently I have visited one of amazing place that I did not know could be in Mumbai. After living more than 15 months and visiting more than 50 places to eat in Mumbai, there is still craving for good food that does not go away easily. Being north Indian (not being racist, just a realist) you always crave for good quality road side food. Yes, I admit Mumbai offers road side food but when you compare it with north Indian road side food, it is nothing. I hate every little thing they pack inside Pao ranging from Samosa, vada, omelette, bhajiya, keema and many more. I guess it is because of fact that Mumbai is very fast pace city and people want to have their food while they running to live this life. I do not belong to this category, I want to enjoy my food and every moment starting from keeping first morsel in your mouth to chewing slowly and gulping down your throat.
Anyway, let’s get back to place I am talking about that Khau Gali. one is near Church Gate that is famous for Non-veg and other is near Ghatkopar. Most of the items are in Ghatkopar are vegetarians. I was planning to come to Khau Gali from quite some time but as they say, when it has to happen, it will happen. I was accompanied by my other two friends. Khau Gali is near Ghatkpar east station. Fortunately autowalla knew where that lane was. We stepped down from auto and there was vendor was selling Khichiya papad. Khichiya papad are generally made of rice flour. Vendor baked that papad for us on sigri (clay/iron oven heated by coal) and will apply some butter on that. Then he put sliced onions, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, some chuteny and lastly lots of cheese on top. You can imagine how taste would be like. One of my friend was on diet, considering the fact that she was going to road side food. She did not want to eat this cheese filled papad but after tasting one bite she had her share of papad. your mouth will be filled with crispness of papad, creamy cheese and raw taste of vegetables. price was only 50 INR.
Khichiya Papad
I will not forget the next stop where I had best chaat in Mumbai. But I will not start with chat. I will start with guava Ice cream. This is not normal ice cream; this has been made on roller like below:
Ice Cream Roller
Above roller is very cold, it might be due to liquid nitrogen (did not research about it). What ever flavor of ice cream you want from seller, he will pick that fresh fruit and press hard on this roller. Due to excessive low temperature, that fruit pulp will stick to this roller. After this, seller will pour sweetened milk on top of that pulp. We asked for guava flavor and result is below:
Guava Ice Cream
Unusual thing was sprinkling red chilly powder and salt on top of it. This has been hit among the crowd that visit Khau Gali. Taste was so creamy and you could savor tangy sweet taste of guava with taste of chilly and salt. It was delicious. Price was 60 INR.
Next stop was near by stall named MithaiLal Gupta. This vendor sells Bhelpuri and Sevpuri that is so common in Mumbai but what is not common is taste it offers. We picked two items from this shop and both were amazing.
We took two delicacies from menu shown above. First one was Dahi Bhel Puri. If you will see dish, you might say what is there special apart from Curd added in it. But food is not only for how it looks, maximum part is how it tastes and it tasted heavenly. ingredients were fresh. I was impressed by how it was served. They used plastic sheet on top of paper so that it became more hygienic. You could savor tangy, sweet taste of tamarind paste and pungent taste of green chilies.
Second was AtomBombs. I was quite amused by the name of it. Actually they were small potatoes cut in half. They cooked those potatoes in sigri to be more chew able. After that, those were filled with quite generous amount of Tamarind chutney and coriander chutney. on top of that usual stuff was like nylon sev, roasted bengal gram, coriander leaves. When you put these atombomb in your mouth, you will feel hotness of baby potatoes. Quite a different delicacy. Both two dishes’ cost was 100 INR.
After this hot atom bomb and cold ice cream combo, we had to drink juice. We had watermelon juice. It was nice glass of watermelon juice with pieces of fruits in it. Also we had cheese dosa.
Total price we paid for three person was 170 INR each including auto fare from Govandi to Ghatkopar.
prashantgopalia 