- 7/9/2025
Today, Bon Appétit joins chefs Meherwan Irani and Hussain Shahzad in Mumbai to explore the world's busiest street food destination. Mohammed Ali Road is at the heart of Mumbai’s Muslim community and home to some of the best and busiest street food stalls in the world. Discover why this one street is considered a must-visit for any food lover in Mumbai.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We're here on Muhammad Ali Road, the heart of the Muslim community of Mumbai.
00:09I would argue that this is quite possibly one of the busiest street food streets in the world.
00:13I'm here with Chef Hussain from Bombay Canteen, also himself a part of the Muslim community.
00:18He knows the street like the back of his hand.
00:20This is also known as Kaogalli, which literally means food alley.
00:24There's probably 30, 40, 50, 100 spots on the street.
00:27And he's going to tell me which ones are the absolute top ones to hit today.
00:31What do you think?
00:32Absolute legends.
00:33Legends.
00:34We're going to hit up the legends.
00:35There's a lot of ground that we need to cover.
00:36We'll let our noses guide us.
00:42We're at a tawa place.
00:43And a tawa is this big circular black metal cast iron griddle.
00:47I'm getting maced right now by some of the stuff.
00:50They've got multiple meats on the tawa.
00:52Let's find out what we should be getting.
00:54Dude, this is so exciting.
00:55So it's the classic street assembly line.
00:57You've got the guy on the tawa that's got four different menu items going simultaneously.
01:01Then you've got an assembly guy next to him that's assembling the orders using the raw ingredients from the tawa.
01:05He's handling the bread.
01:06Remember the bread I was talking to you about?
01:07Oh, that's right.
01:08That's the bread.
01:09Dan sandwich bread.
01:10My dad used to come here to get this after school.
01:11He introduced me to this.
01:12Give us chicken bhaida roti, give us one chicken bhaida roti, give us one pava, and give us one pava in the pot.
01:16It's chicken bhaida roti.
01:18Chicken bhaida roti.
01:19What is this?
01:20What is the mutton?
01:21It's the boss keema and potato mix right now.
01:23That too.
01:24This which is mixed mutton, keema and potatoes in one of these breads.
01:27Almost like a sloppy Joe but not really sloppy.
01:29Then we've got the bhaida which is also in a naan sandwich.
01:31a naan sandwich. And then we got something which is very typical to Bombay. It's the
01:35bhaida roti. Chicken that he'll then put in this, scramble it with the eggs, fold it
01:39over and cook it like a murtapak on both sides.
01:41So the tawa, probably India's oldest cooking surface. What the walk is to China, the tawa
01:47is to India. The flame's in the middle and essentially he knows when to move things to
01:51the center to heat them up and then when to move them to the side when they're done cooking.
01:54So quite often you'll see the cooked products sitting at the edge of the tawa where it's
01:58just resting and the minute you put an odor, he pulls it back in, heats it up and ready
02:02to go. Tell me what we got here. Potatoes and lamb keema inside of the naan
02:08choppao. Yeah, yeah. Like a potato-y keema basically. Yeah. I think this is the best of both words.
02:13It's like carb on carb and meat. Got it. Yeah. I'm going to try that one first. Yeah, you're
02:16going to try that first. Let's treat. Oh man. Oh my god. The beauty of cooking on the tawa
02:26is that you never always get everything cooked the same way. There'll be some charred crispy
02:31parts, there'll be some parts of green chili that are raw, there'll be some parts that
02:34are semi-cooked. So you get different textures of the same ingredient. Also when they're doing
02:38a lot of things together on the tawa, what ends up happening is there's always some amount
02:42of meat that's left over from the previous order, so it features back in your order.
02:45And if it gets a little crispier, cooks a little more, a little more, it's insane. Perfect bite.
02:50Really good. Fantastic. This should be just the mutton chop you said, right? Yeah. Yeah.
02:53Buna wa mutton. Buna means roasted. It's just a dry roasted mutton. But that's right. Sorry
02:59to cut you off, but that's where it came from, right? From the tawa. Buna was on the tawa.
03:04Oh. Man, I mean, it's like you have this. There's no way you're going back to a hamburger or a
03:13Big Mac. I mean, there's just no way. I mean, this is the OG, right? Last paida roti.
03:19Again, a very famous. Bombay thing. It's a Bombay thing?
03:23Maida roti. Yeah. It's Bombay's quintessential late night snack. I mean, you get hammered.
03:29This is what you get. Think of this as a pastry. Right. It's just flour, water, eggs in the pastry.
03:33Right. Take up a lot of chicken. Yeah. Onions, chillies, whack it all in a bowl, with some
03:38eggs, whip it up, throw it on that. So you mix the, you scramble, yeah, with the, with the chicken.
03:42With the chicken. And then pour on there. Pour on that. Yeah. And then use a quick
03:46fold and slap it on the grill. It sounds strange to have egg on the inside, but it almost acts
03:52like a, you know what mayonnaise does? It's a binder and it gives you that mouth feel that's
03:58soft and creamy. And, and it's eggs. I mean, who doesn't love a masala omelet? It's a delicious bite.
04:03That's exceptionally good. That's f***ing great. That's f***ing great. So we paid about
04:11five bucks for all that food. I mean, there's no value meal in America that even comes close
04:17to what we just ate today in terms of flavor. It's really remarkable the quality, the quality
04:22of what you can get on the streets compared to anything back home. I mean, the reason these
04:26places are so crowded is because everybody can afford it. It is insane back there right now.
04:31The guy's not moving fast enough, the cashier, and customers are actually threatening him,
04:36seriously threatening him with violence because he's not getting the food out fast enough.
04:40I mean, it looks like at any second a riot is about to break out. All right, let's go hit
04:46the next spot. Oh my God. Oh my God. Look at this. Yes.
04:55So they're mutton kebabs that are mixed with a whole bunch of spices, a little bit of bread,
04:58I guess, you know, bind it because when you eat it, you'll know. Yep, yep, yep.
05:01This is a people's dish, right? Yeah. And they give you a whole bunch of it. So it
05:04kind of gives you the flavor of meat. Yeah. It soaks in the juices of the meat while it
05:08fries. The bread absorbs it all. Right. And it's just flavor packed in every bite as you go.
05:12It's like, it's like popcorn shrimp. Yeah. Except it's lamb. It's lamb, yeah.
05:16The tawa is almost filled. All the fat pulls in on one side. These guys shape it right here.
05:20They drop it in there. And then every time he needs to take them out, he just pushes them up.
05:24He's got a system, bro. He's got a system. And it's not too much of a fry, right?
05:28It's already cooked lamb. Oh, baby, baby, baby. All right.
05:34So each one of these balls is a little bit of mutton and probably some bread,
05:39probably some chickpea flour, a whole bunch of spices, maybe a little cilantro on the inside.
05:43So there's a lot of fennel, whole cumin, crushed chilies, ginger garlic paste. Oh my God.
05:48But you know the texture, right? You can get from the texture that this is.
05:51100%. It's just a tiny little nugget of heavenly meat. Here's the crazy part.
05:57This street is so street food that you can get a street snack while looking for street food.
06:01And that's exactly what this is.
06:03It's a Nihari o'clock. We need to get some Nihari. Where should we go?
06:07100%. I know a spot down the road from here.
06:09We're here at Nihari Express. And traditionally, you break your fast with Nihari.
06:13Nihari means empty stomach. Nihari is a meat stew, which has been flavored with the marrow from the bone,
06:19the shank that goes in the Nihari, along with amazing aromatic spices.
06:23Six to seven hours this pot has been cooking. There's roughly 250 pounds of Nihari in here
06:30to feed all the people that are going to be showing up on the street.
06:33So it's been wrapped to retain heat. You notice there's a wet cloth sealing the lid and the hindi, the base.
06:39And the bricks are weighing it down to make sure that all the heat, all the steam has been staying inside.
06:43Think of it as an Indian Dutch oven, if you will. It's just been cooked really low, really slow,
06:48so that the meat is literally falling off the bone. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
06:55It's still bubbling inside and the smell is heady. It literally goes to your head.
07:00The shanks have been tied with a string. That way you can pull the shank out and get all the bones out of the Nihari.
07:06Look at that. Look at that. That shank has been simmering in there for seven hours, kind of like a beef broth on steroids.
07:15You want to get absolutely all the stock from the bones, but most importantly, the marrow from the bones to ooze out into the Nihari.
07:22And when you get your plate of Nihari, you'll see little bits of marrow floating on it.
07:26I mean, it is one of the most decadent dishes out there, and yet it's made every day for everybody in the street.
07:32This originally was food of the kings. What we're seeing today is the people's Nihari.
07:36All that fat has floated up to the top, what they call the rogan.
07:40So he's going to take the rogan, the fat, skim it off the top and separate it and put it in this bowl over here.
07:45Think of it as God's ghee. So now the meat's coming out.
07:50So the meat goes in, then a portion of the gravy.
07:54They separated some of the marrow out. This is actually the marrow from the shank going on top.
08:02And there you have it. There's the full order. A bucket, some green chilies, lime, sliced ginger.
08:11That's a big component of Nihari is putting the sliced ginger on top and getting a lot of that ginger.
08:15The authentic way to eat naan is with tandoori roti. Roti done in the tandoori oven.
08:19This thing runs at about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and these things cook instantly.
08:23Think Indian pizza oven, except inverted upside down.
08:26The clay oven is so hot that the dough instantly sticks to the side and starts to bubble out.
08:34The top of it is cooking much like a pizza cooks in a pizza oven. Convection heat, and it's going to blister and char.
08:39And the back of it gets crusty because it's the part that's stuck to the inside of the clay wall.
08:44It takes about a minute to a minute and a half maximum, and then it's going to peel it off using these long skewers.
08:50So while the technique is similar to making naan, what's different, of course, that this is a roti, where there's no dairy, flour, water, and a pinch of salt.
08:59It's just an absolute piece of art. It looks like a pizza.
09:02And then the backside, you've got sort of almost like a pizza crust, the crunchy bits.
09:06It's perfect texture-wise, the inside, the outside. Perfect for dipping, perfect for mopping, and traditionally enjoyed far more on the street than naan would be.
09:16This is a little mind-blowing. You get led down a little sidewalk, tuck into a little doorway, and all of a sudden you're in this cool, air-conditioned little cave.
09:26I'm so excited right now. I can't even tell you. Get me some of that mutton. Don't hold back on the mutton.
09:31I'm looking for it. Look at that. Beautiful.
09:34All right, let's do this. Get a little bit of that nice fat. Get a little bit of chili. Get a little bit of that meat.
09:40Mop up some sauce. Get all the flavors in one bite. You want all of it to hit your mouth at the same time. Get the full experience.
09:49Get out. Get out of here.
09:55Get out of here.
10:01It's the marrow. It's the marrow. It's so creamy. But then in the background, all these lovely aromatic floral notes.
10:10Clove, the cardamom, the ginger. It's just one of these incredible, perfect bites.
10:16So there's the crusty bit and then there is the softer bit. You leave the crustier bit in here to just soak while you eat the softer bits.
10:26And then that crustier bit soaks it all up. That's flavor. That's flavor town right there.
10:31This has got to be one of the best bites in the city.
10:34All right, I'm going to shove this in my face and then wrap it up and get out of here and see what else Muhammad Ali Road has in store for us.
10:40There's one here.
10:45Woohoo!
10:46Now we're doing it. We are doing it, baby.
10:48We're doing it right.
10:49We're doing it right.
10:50We're doing it right.
10:51Goat brains. It's not just a shock value thing. It's both a delicacy and it's also a poor man's food.
10:58Every part of the goat was used. It's creamy. It's delicious.
11:01You're about to pick a fresh goat brain and chop it up.
11:04What we got going on is onions, garlic paste, green chilies all being sauteed in a little bit of oil.
11:10And once those get a little bit caramelized, he's going to move the goat brains in, which he's doing right now, and start mashing and cooking it all together.
11:17This isn't the easiest thing to do. It's easy to overcook goat brains.
11:21Yeah.
11:22Now he's adding his masala. He's got his masala dapa over here.
11:27He's putting turmeric, haldi, red chili powder, jeera powder, black chili powder, and cumin powder, coriander powder.
11:36The surface area of the tawa, one big advantage is how quickly the liquid will cook out and get that Maillard reaction going.
11:41So he's basically making a pan sauce.
11:43Pan sauce, yeah.
11:44Yeah, exactly. Scraping the bits of the bottom.
11:45Bits of the pan sauce into it.
11:46And you've got that concentrated flavor now without anything burning.
11:50I know there's shows about street food, but I swear to God, this is the most street.
11:55I think I've hit maximum street right now.
11:57Yeah?
11:58Yeah, I've maxed out on the street.
11:59We are on the street, right?
12:00I mean, this is, I mean, my Jesus Christ.
12:02We're going to get run over just sitting here right now.
12:05It's a good way to go, eating lamb brains.
12:07Yeah.
12:08I mean, I'm excited.
12:09I'm not like, oh, I've got to eat goat brains.
12:11This is probably going to be delicious.
12:13And then hit it with some piaz, onions, a pao for you, sir.
12:18Thank you, kind man.
12:19Pao for me.
12:20Scoop it in here.
12:21I'm going to make a little quima pao, or in this case, a goat brain pao.
12:24It's like that soft, creamy scramble, you know, that takes eight minutes to make.
12:42Exactly.
12:43Custody.
12:44Custody.
12:45Custody and Custody in the same breath.
12:48Not a hint of yumminess.
12:50It's absolutely delicious.
12:51I mean, it's, it's, I wouldn't just say to get this because it's a delicacy.
12:55I'm like, get it because it's delicious.
12:57Yeah.
12:58I mean, you know, it's a chicken tofu.
12:59Take a soft scrambled egg.
13:00Essentially, this is that same texture, just with that meaty umami that comes with meat.
13:05So if you can get over the fact that it's goat brains, it actually is a delicious texture
13:09that most of us are quite familiar with, with incredible flavor.
13:13There's masala, there's spices, there's onions, there's cilantro.
13:16There's all the full trifecta of Indian spices.
13:19I think it's closest to foie gras.
13:20Seared foie gras is this.
13:21It's exactly.
13:22There you go.
13:23Seared foie gras.
13:24Foie gras.
13:25Foie gras.
13:26Foie gras.
13:27Things have calmed down a little bit just because the call for prayers just happened.
13:30So everybody's taking a few minutes out to pray.
13:32Okay.
13:33I love me a good milk or dairy center.
13:35I love the way they lit up.
13:36I love the way they're bright and colorful.
13:38They're essentially letting you know that their milk, their dairy is so pure.
13:42And the one that's quite famous here on Muhammad Ali Road is Nurani Milk Center.
13:46One of the specialties here is this firni, which is essentially a rice pudding that's made in a clay pot.
13:53So it's rice, milk, cooked together and then set into these clay pots like this.
13:58What ends up happening is that the residual moisture in the pudding is absorbed by the clay pots.
14:03And it thickens inside.
14:04And then it thickens up and almost sets.
14:06So when you actually eat into it, it's like, how do I say, it's almost custardy?
14:11Yeah.
14:12Moist, chilled.
14:13So this is saffron?
14:14Yeah, saffron.
14:15I don't want the firni.
14:16Yeah.
14:17It's broken, overcooked rice.
14:18It's never...
14:19I can see that.
14:20Right.
14:21It's never the whole rice.
14:22Never the whole rice.
14:23You want to have another one?
14:24Oh, you can have two.
14:25I'm having mine.
14:26Get the hell out of here.
14:30Big budget.
14:31How to go in?
14:32Yeah, go for it.
14:34Oh, mama.
14:35It's fucking good, right?
14:36It's like the best kid I've ever had.
14:38It's like thickened rice pudding, but the rice is so soft and broken down.
14:42Yeah.
14:43All the moisture has been absorbed by this.
14:45So you've got soft in the middle and then thicker instead of almost crunchier on the outside.
14:49Yeah.
14:50It's just that perfect blend of flavors of being crunchy a little bit and soft and mushy on the inside.
14:56Here's the crazy part.
14:57This is just a clay collard style little dish that's unglazed.
15:03So essentially when we're done, we can just throw it on the ground.
15:07The next rain, this thing melts in the mud.
15:09I mean, this is about as biodegradable as it gets.
15:11I mean, this is something you could probably serve in a Michelin star restaurant.
15:14100%.
15:15Yeah, and people would be losing their minds.
15:17Yeah.
15:18It has been an amazing evening on Muhammad Ali Road.
15:21We hit some of the legends and still barely scratched the surface of all the options that are available here.
15:26But what's been the most remarkable about eating out of the street is the quality of the food that we've had here today.
15:32100%.
15:33This is elevated food served incredibly fresh, incredible flavors by people that are passionate.
15:39It is where Mumbai comes to eat when they're hungry, especially if you're Chef Hussain, one of the most renowned chefs in the city.
15:46If he comes here, it is worth all of us coming here.
15:49Check out our places.
15:50They're legendary.
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