Eating out in Mumbai and northern Goa

[NatashaH]

I'll be in India later this year, staying for a few nights in Mumbai, then travelling a bit before ending up in Panaji, then northern Goa (near Ashvem) for 10 days. Has anyone got any recommendations for restaurants? I'm particularly interested in eating good local/regional Indian food.

[percyn]

How long are you going to be in each place and what style of cuisine do you want to experience. In Mumbai the options are almost endless but my suggestions would be a Thali, Parsi cuisine, street chaat, a tandoor restaurant/street version. A few restaurants and experiences are shared at from my visit 2 yrs ago.

In goa my recommendation would be to go to the small restaurants/shacks by the beach and have them make you a curry or a Portuguese inspired dish.

If your immune system is not used to it, I would start with restaurants before progressing to street food and be careful of the water or any preparation that does not involve boiling the liquid for a good 10-15 minutes.

[NatashaH]

Thanks for the advice. I'll be spending 2-3 nights in each place, apart from northern goa, where I'll be staying a week or so... I'm keen to taste as much Goa/Maharashtra/Karnataka food as possible. I'll be writing a travel article and, quite possibly, one or two food articles based on my trip, so I'm keen to ensure I get to eat as authentically as possible.

[Jenni]

[Please note that my English approximations in brackets are just to give you some idea of what the dish is!]

In Mumbai you must eat vada pav (a sort of "burger" with a fried potato ball inside), pav bhaji )a spicy vegetable mash served with toasted and buttered bun - this is a bad description, but it is totally delicious) and bhel puri (spicy puffed rice mix) from street side food vendor. My recommendation would be to look out for places with a crowd, as then you know it's good. In terms of general Maharashtrian things to try, personally I would say to make sure you eat poha (flattened rice), sabudana khichari (sago cooked with peanuts in a dry pilaf-type dish), sabudana vada {sago fritter), usal (sprouted bean dish) and pithle/zunka (both gram flour dishes - one is more solid than the other, but they are both great with bhakri). If you can try bhakri (an unleavened bread, more coarse and rural than chapatti), you will be eating some really traditional rural food. Sweet wise, don't miss shrikhand (strained and sweetened yoghurt) and puran poli (sweet stuffed bread). Gola (I believe the US has something similar called a snowcone, except gola is compacted ice on a stick rather than shaved ice in a cone) is a great cooling snack, but I don't know if your tummy will be up to the ice.