One of the highlights of our time in Mumbai was the food and city tour we embarked on with our guide, Jay. Jay was naturally even-keeled, friendly and very knowledgeable (on all things food, Mumbai, and Christopher Nolan movies), and took us on an awesome tour of the city through the lens of Mumbai street food. We left very full and fulfilled with our experience of getting to see different neighborhoods of Mumbai, trying the staple foods and institutions of the city, and just hanging out with Jay.  We went into the experience managing our expectations after our food and city tour with Avinash in Varanasi, but were immediately put at ease in Jay’s hands. Our jam-packed day included:

Anand Dosa Center: We started our food and city tour near NMIMS University and the airport at the Anand Dosa Center. This series of food stalls situated right outside the university buildings serve up a mix of Mumbai and South India classics both the traditional way and with a spin (for example, “pizza dosas”). Luckily it wasn’t too busy when we stopped by mid-morning, and it was fun to see the buzz of university students getting a quick meal between classes. It was here that we tried a Mumbai staple and  new favorite of ours, vada pav (a deep fried potato dumpling sandwiched between two homemade buns, dressed with green chutney and spicy pickled chili). We also shared a delicious masala dosa for good measure   

Arya Bhavan: After a nice walk on one of Mumbai’s raised walkway platforms, we hopped on the metro due south to the Matunga neighborhood in the heart of Mumbai. Jay explained to us that this was a predominately South Indian neighborhood, so naturally that would be the type of food we would be trying. Our first stop was Arya Bhavan, a casual sit-down restaurant started by a man famous for his catering to Bollywood who brought his recipes to the public through this restaurant. We really enjoyed the hot rasam (delicious spicy tomato and lentil drippings with veggies), pani yaram (fried idli with coconut, tomato and garlic chutney), and hot hand-drawn milk coffee we tried here

Ram Ashray South Indian: Down the street from Arya Bhavan is Ram Ashray, a casual South Indian corner snack bar where locals pop in for a few quick dishes before continuing on with their day. Jay brought us here to try one dish – Buns Puri. A southern spin on the traditional deep fried bread, Ram Ashray’s version is a drier, airier puri with a crispy brown outside and very soft, bready inside. It tasted a bit like a sweet banana bread since the batter is made with mashed banana. This was one of Doug’s favorite dishes in India

Cannon Pav Bhaji: After Ram Ashray, we hopped back on the metro and ventured further South to the famous CST railway station near the Fort neighborhood. Right outside the railway station at the intersection of a bustling pedestrian area sits our next stop – Cannon Pav Bhaji. Pav Bhaji, a thick mashed vegetable curry covered in loads of butter and accompanied by a fresh bun (also fried in butter), is another Mumbai staple. Cannon is a no-frills takeaway spot known for their version of this staple dish. We quickly dined on an order with Jay standing at the narrow bar of the stall – delicious and rich, but perhaps a bit too buttery for us 

Pancham Puriwala: A short walk from the railway station on a busy main street in Fort was our next stop – Pancham Puriwala. As we walked in and grabbed a table upstairs, Jay explained to us that this eatery had been around for over a century (the current owner is the 6th generation continuing the tradition) and is where Jay’s dad used to spend time dining. The specialty here is the puri bhaji – a sampling of five different puris accompanied by two different types of curries. Our favorites were the lentil and panner puris. The real highlight here was spending over an hour hanging out with Jay talking about premium cable TV shows and Christopher Nolan movies (his passion and knowledge on the subject was awesome)

Sugarcane Drink Stand: Walking through Fort on the way to our last stop, we made a pit stop at one of the many street stands making and selling sugarcane juice. We noticed these stands walking around the city – men shaving the sugar cane stalks with machetes before running them through a large rolling press machine to extract the juice into a glass. We were excited to finally give them a try and were very pleasantly surprised by how delicious and refreshing the drink was with nothing but freshly pressed sugar cane juice and a squeeze of lime 

K. Rustom & Co.: “A Mumbai institution” according to Jay, K. Rustom & Co is an unassuming ice cream parlor right off Marine Drive. It was bustling with younger Indian folks when we arrived and we squeezed our way to the window to get the go-to dish here – freshly made ice cream sandwiched between two light and crunchy wafers. Full from the day’s dishes, we opted to split a cardamom and pistachio sandwich. It was supremely delicious and didn’t take many back and forth passes between the two of us before it was gone. As we stood on the sidewalk among the other groups enjoying our ice cream on a humid and hot Mumbai evening, we couldn’t help but think of the Wilmette Dairy Queen back home during summer

Effingut: After the tour, we made our way to a craft beer bar across from the hotel to decompress from the day’s activity. We started with a flight of a few beers that sounded interesting to sample, which came served in small shot glasses. Only one, a saison, was drinkable so we opted to split their 1L serving of the beer. Our waiter was also a bit rude and impatient with us when we slowly made our way through the shot glasses. Overall, an odd experience

Trishna: This upscale and traditional seafood restaurant had been recommended to us by a close friend (shout out, Sanya!), and also appeared on many of the lists we found through research, so when we walked by while exploring Kala Ghoda we had to try it out. The ambiance of the restaurant is super fun – it is designed to look and feel like the inside of a fancy cruise ship with white table cloth and traditionally dressed wait staff. The fresh seafood is the highlight – we both shared a large crab prepared the recommended way (with garlic and butter), accompanied by some tandoor roti and the classic Indian trio of red onion, green chutney and lime. Our favorite meal outside the food tour in Mumbai – so damn tasty and fun to navigate with our shell crackers and bibs

Kala Ghoda Cafe: In need of caffeine after our day of walking around art galleries, museums, and neighborhoods, we settled into Kala Ghoda Cafe. It is a hip cafe in a hip neighborhood and we enjoyed our double espressos here among a foreign and Indian crowd

Bombay Canteen: We hopped in a cab and drove quite a ways north to try out this hip restaurant we had read about in our research. As we got closer to the restaurant, the low-rise Indo-Saracenic buildings we were used to changed to newer high-rise apartment buildings and offices. We would come to learn that this is what defines the Lower Parel neighborhood where Bombay Canteen is situated. As expected, it was probably the most hip restaurant we went to in India, and we enjoyed sipping on some genuinely good craft IPAs and snacking on a delicious paneer kati roll with spice-dusted potato chips