Mumbai | Culinary Richness of the City

The cultural diversity of Mumbai can be seen in the culinary richness that the city offers in the form of street food with Muslim, Gujarati, South Indian, Parsi, and Maharashtrian influences. These flavors, colors, and textures create dishes that pop in your mouths without burdening your pockets. If you are a foodie, then you are lucky to be in Mumbai because you have a plethora of best places to eat street food in Mumbai.

The following list contains mouthwatering varieties that all the foodies would love to try. We have curated both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian options for all types of foodies. So, without further ado, let us have a look at the smorgasbord of the best street food in Mumbai.

Vada Pav

Vada Pav at Sharmajees is one of the best Mumbai street food

Vada Pav, or the Poor Man’s Burger, is among the top Mumbai street food dishes. It is essentially a bun bread (pav) and a fritter(vada) stuffed with mashed potato. The dish is served with spicy and sweet chutneys, fried chilies, and garlic powder chutney.

Popular Variants: Schezwan, cheese, and grilled Vada Pav

Misal Pav- Spicy Food

Misal Pav is a popular Bombay street food

Quintessentially from Pune, the dish is a mix of curried lentils, topped with potato bhaaji, poha, chivada, chopped onions, and tomato. This hot and spicy street food of Mumbai is eaten with pav and yogurt. If you are looking for options in healthy street food in Mumbai, then Misal Pav has got your back. Start your morning with this sumptuous, healthy breakfast.

Pav Bhaaji

Another popular Bombay street food is the Pav Bhaaji. An assortment of mashed vegetables cooked with spices and seasonings (bhaaji) is served with bun bread (pav) heated on a pan. Butter is applied on the bun. If you are roaming hungry and looking for street food in mumbai at night, then you will find at least one Pav Bhaji stall open late in night in your area where you can kill your hunger pangs.

Bhel Puri and Sev Puri

Among the vegetarian dishes of street food in Mumbai, Bhel Puri and Sev Puri are the most popular ones. Bhel Puri is a Marathi Chaat made out of puffed rice, vegetables, and a tangy tamarind sauce. Sev Puri is another chaat essentially made of Puri loaded with diced potatoes, onions, 3 chutneys (tamarind, chili, and garlic), and topped with sev (small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste). It is seasoned with raw mango or a hint of lemon and chaat masala.

Batata Vada- Aloo Bonda

Batata Vada, popularly known as Aloo Bonda, is a popular Mumbai street food that consists of potato mash patty coated with deep-fried chick pea flour. Salt, turmeric, and red chili powder seasonings are added and the dish is served with green chutney and fried green chilies. Basically, it is a mashed potato pakora made in Mumbai style that you ought to try.

Ragda Pattice

Top street food in Mumbai, Ragda Pattice is a combination of ragda – soft and spicy rugged flavored chick peas – and pattice – deep fried patties of mashed potatoes. The ragda is crushed with pattice and finely chopped onions, tamarind sauce, and green chutney is poured on it.

Bombay Sandwich

The Bombay Sandwich is a street food of Mumbai with a combination of most unlikely ingredients. It consists of three buttered white bread slices with slices of beetroot, boiled potatoes, cucumbers, onion rings, and mint chutney between them. The sandwich also comes with a toasted variant.

Akuri On Toast- Parsi Dish

Akuri, a popular street food of Mumbai, is a spicy scrambled egg Parsi dish flavored with fried onions, ginger, coriander, chopped chilies, and black pepper. It is traditionally eaten with bread toast. You can easily find it in cafes of Mumbai and gulp it up with hot cup of chai.

Baida Roti- Square Shaped Patty

Baida Roti, a popular Bombay street food, is a square shaped fried patty of spiced meat (chicken, mutton, or mutton brain) with whipped eggs and onions. This delicious street food will leave your hungry growling stomach filled and satisfied.

Frankie- Stuffed Rolls

Frankie is famous street food in Mumbai. It is a juicy naan bread with egg coating, rolled with mutton/chicken stuffing. The vegetarian variant does not use egg coating. The stuffing is of paneer or potatoes. Basically, it is a roll that you can hog down whenever you have hunger pangs in the middle of the day or night.

Kanda Poha- Lip-Smacking Snack

Kanda Poha, another popular Mumbai street food, is an easy-to-make snack. Onions (kanda) and flaked rice (poha) are mixed with chopped potatoes, green chilies, and peas. The mixture is then tempered with mustard seeds and garnished with fresh coriander and lime juice.

Zunka Bhakar- Authentic Street Food

Zhunka Bhakar is popular street food in Mumbai. It is made using chopped onions heated with mustard seeds, curry patta leaves and chickpea flour. It is eaten with jowar roti (bhakri). It is traditional healthy street food in Mumbai which you can find in Mumbai homes. If you have a Mumbaikar friend, asl them to treat you with this delish food.

Falooda- Indian Version of Persian Dessert

Falooda, an Indian adaptation of the Persian dessert, is a rich drink of vermicelli mixed with milk, almonds, pistachios, rose syrup, and basil seeds, topped with ice-cream. This street food needs no introduction and is perfect street food in Mumbai in summers to cool off the heat.

Steamed Idlis and Vadas- Steamed Batters

Another famous street food in Mumbai for breakfast is Idli – Vada served with Sambhar and coconut chutney. Idlis are steamed batters of fermented black lentils and rice. Vadas, on the other hand, are savory fritter type snacks made using Lentils, chilies, onions, and curry patta leaves.

Mysore Masala Dosa- Thin Pancakes

Dosa, a staple South-Indian dish, is a thin pancake-like food made of fermented rice batter. Different variants of the popular Bombay street food are stuffed differently. Mumbai is formed from outsiders. SO, you will find a lot of dishes that are not of Maharashtran’s influence and Dosa is one of them.

Dabeli- A Gujarat’s Influence

A sister dish of Vada Pav, Dabeli is another best veg street food in Mumbai that you can try during your Mumbai Darshan. For those who love snacking are going to love the taste of Dabeli. The pav bread is spread with special spicy Dabeli Masala made with crushed peanuts, mashed potatoes, and an assortment of spices which is then topped with Nylon Sev, pomegranate seeds, and chutney. The dish has its influence from Gujarat and can easily be found at street food stalls in Mumbai everywhere.

Keema Pav- A Signature Parsi Dish

If you have not tried Kheema Pav on your trip to Mumbai, have you even been to Mumbai? Kheema Pav is a signature Parsi dish and a ubiquitous snack for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For all non-vegetarians out there, you have got to try this whenever you visit Mumbai. Grab a bite of pav bread and fill it with minced mutton cooked in flavorful tomato gravy. It is so delicious that you will find yourself wiping the plate clean. It is the best non-veg street food in Mumbai.

Pani Puri- Tangy Flavorous Waterballs

Pani puri is universal love! There is not a single person on earth who does not like Pani Puri. And the one you will try in Mumbai will make you fall in love with the tangy flavorful water balls all over again. Most popular street food in Mumbai, you can have Pani Puri at any of the street food stalls in the city. You even have variants in the taste of waters like Hing Jeera, Khatta Meetha, etc. Work up your appetite with a plate of Panipuri in Mumbai.