Vada Pav

Vada pav is the favourite snack of Mumbaikars as it is available anywhere easily and a good grad-and go food. It is called the ‘Indian Burger’. People in Mumbai are very busy to actually sit and eat and they prefer such food items. This potato filled snack accompanied with fiery red garlic chutney should be on the top of the list of street food for the visitors of the city. This is the only thing that helps poor people in Mumbai to survive, as you can get this anywhere at a maximum price of 10 to 12 rupees. There is no place in Mumbai where vada pav does not exist. Even if you are hungry at midnight, vada pav will be present for your rescue.

Many actors, who came to Mumbai and struggled, often say that vada pavs kept them on the go during their struggles to make it big. In the U.S. a burger will cost you fifteen cents but a vada pav costs just seven rupees. In Mumbai, at least 100,000 vada pavs are consumed daily.

Normally you can eat tasty vada pav anywhere in Mumbai but there are specific places which people remember only for vada pav. The Parleshwar shop at vile parle east is famous for its vada pav for years. The vada pav stall outside Mithibai college at Vile Parle West serves super tasty vada pav with butter in mere 12-15 Rupees. Changu Mangu vada pav center is famous at Dahisar for its vada pav, but the best vada pav you can have in whole Dahisar is the vada pav of Vidya Mandir School (My school J J). My mouth still starts watering if anyone mentions ‘Vidya Mandir ka vada pav’. I remember students from different schools used to come to our school just for tasting that vadapav.

Vada pav has also played an important role in the politics of Maharashtra. In 1990s Shiv Sena, one of the leading political parties in Maharashtra set up vada pav stalls in Mumbai to give some work to young Maharashtrian people. Two years back, Shiv Sena started a chain of vada pav named “Shiv vada pav”.

There is one stall nearby Dahisar station and they came up with new invention of chinese vada pav which is also nice and you can get it at the cost of normal vadapav. This is something exclusive as I haven’t seen such stalls anywhere else in Mumbai.

Nowadays vada pav is being modernized as you can find different forms like grilled vada pav, cheese schezwan vada pav, paneer vada pav, Chhole masala vada pav etc. at many places. Jumbo King and Goli vada pav are a few of these branded vada pav manufacturers. Vadapav is so famous in Mumbai  that it attracted a marketing idea to generate more money by offering variety of these famous vada pav and targeting hygiene based people. These vadapavs are tasty but expensive and the only vadapav which can satisfy you in just 10 rupees is the traditional one.

According to a poll conducted by Star News these are the top four popular vada pav joints in Mumbai.

1.      Vada pav outside Kirti College, Dadar

2.      Vada pav at the Elphinston station, platform number 2.

3.      Borkar Vada pav , Girgaon

4.      Krishna Vada pav, Dadar -

Vada pav at restaurants and hotels do not taste as good as the street vada pav. If you want to taste the best forget the ‘hygienic keeda’ in you and eat the street vada pav. It is the thing that is hot favourite among elite, middle-class, poor alike.