Mumbai’s Vada Pav becomes a global hit

For many, it is also a snack to relish while commuting back home from work.

This fried goodness has now become one of the best sandwiches in the world. Taste Atlas, a worldwide food guide famous for its food knowledge recently released a list of the top 50 best tasting sandwiches in the world. Our beloved vada pav secured the 19th position on the list making every Mumbaikar’s chest beam with pride.

Taste Atlas mentioned that Vada Pav was first introduced to the world by a street seller named Ashok Vaidya. He sold it near a train station in Mumbai in the 1960s and 1970s. He wanted this simple dish to be a cheap meal for people.

Vada pav is a combination dish. Vada is prepared from mashed boiled potatoes. It is cooked with spices like finely chopped green chillies, chopped coriander, turmeric, ginger-garlic paste, mustard seeds, and some red chilli powder. This mixture is then rolled into a ball, coated with a gram flour mixture and deep-fried till crispy. The vada is then put into a bun – commonly called pav, along with dry and wet chutneys of three kinds (mint, garlic and tamarind) relished with fried green chillies.

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This combination is an explosion of varied Indian flavours and it is irresistible. Today, vada pav is found in every corner of Mumbai streets. Earlier priced at just Rs 10 or even less, today, one vada pav costs somewhere around Rs 20-25.

Vada has evolved drastically over the years. Although nothing beats the classic one, this snack has seen many variations. From cheese-burst vada pav to chicken keema vada pav, Mumbaikars have gone all out in experimenting with unique kinds of vada pavs.

To indulge in the sinful goodness of a perfect Mumbai vada pav, here are some places you must try:

1. Ashok Vada Pav, Dadar west
2. Aram Vada Pav, CST
3. Gajanan Vada Pav, Thane
4. Anand Vada Pav, Vile Parle
5. Graduate Vada Pav, Byculla

Additionally, if you don’t know already, India’s filter kaapi was ranked as the second best in the world by Taste Atlas. In its Instagram post, it rightly mentioned that Indian filter coffee is a preparation technique in which coffee is brewed with the use of an Indian coffee filter. This filter consists of two chambers – the upper one with a perforated bottom used to hold ground coffee and the bottom one in which brewed coffee is slowly dripped.

What’s more, filter kaapi and vada pav is a great combination that has the power to put one in a better mood instantly and calm the senses. In Mumbai, here are some top places known for serving best filter kaapi.

1. Cafe Mysore, Matunga
2. Arya Bhavan, Matunga
3. Ramashraya, Matunga
4. Cafe Madras, Matunga
5. Swati Snacks, Tardeo

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