Mumbai Local – Bringing Authentic Indian Street Food to Downtown Vancouver

Now I admit, I am not as well versed in Indian cuisine as I am in Chinese and Asian cuisine, nor have I ate at the same amount of restaurants to be able to compare the various Indian restaurants around the Vancouver area. However, I rely on my taste buds most of the time and that has always worked out for me. 🙂 Now, why am I saying all this? It’s because…my tastebuds were in complete disbelief during my visit to Mumbai Local and I want to tell you why.

Mumbai Local is located on Davie street and their mission is to bring all of the culturally diverse flavours and delicious eats of Mumbai to Vancouver. My friend and I ordered the Tumeric Milk ($3) to start and it was super delicious! If you don’t know about the health benefits of tumeric, read about it here.

As part of their Indian Street Food (aka Chaat) menu, we got the Dahl Puri ($8) which are hollow crackers stuffed with potato and onion mixture, topped with yogurt and cilantro.

We also tried the Pani Puri ($8) which is just another variation of the hollow crackers. Instead of having everything already assembled, you pour in the sweet and tangy sauce into the holes, and eat it almost all in one bite. It makes for a fantastic little explosion of flavours in the mouth!

It certainly takes some skills but I like the fun and interactive element of this appy.

Now this is a definite must try if you ever visit Mumbai Local. Their Chicken Lollipops ($11) may look very normal but that Szechuan chutney on the side as well as the marinade on the chicken is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. I found it to be a fantastic way to bring together both Szechuan and Indian cuisine in one dish and the result is like a flavour bomb!

When I first saw this dish I was a little apprehensive at the artistic delivery of the beet puree and the singularity of the lamb chop. But once I dug in, my opinion completely changed. This Masala Lamb Chop ($8) was grilled to perfection and the beet was surprisingly a perfect accompaniment to the gamy protein. It mellowed out the heavy spices of the meat and it just made for a very delicious appetizer.

In most Indian restaurants, I typically find the majority of the menu compromises of very traditional meats like chicken, beef, shrimp, lamb with some type of curry or sauce. However this was the first time I saw crab paired with a curry. I’ve always loved crab curry more than anything else (but I’ve only tried the Thai version) so I wanted to try this for myself. This is called Crab Malvani ($23) and it is an ode to the city Malvan which is surrounded by the coast and their incredibly fresh seafood. It is cooked with coconut and spices in an Indian coastal style with saffron rice. Garden Tower – Garden Tower 2 is really an interesting gardening solution, the number of plants and additional features makes it stand out from the crowd of vertical garden systems. The pockets for plants you would expect to be pretty small holding about 50 plants in total but they’- overall customers seem to really enjoy having the Garden Tower 2 with overall reviews at 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon. This is a great recommendation for anyone looking for more out of their gardening space. The consensus is that it’s pretty easy to use, it has extra large storage capacity and it has an excellent build quality. I gotta say, this was absolutely scrumptious. I encourage you to get this despite it being messy to eat because you won’t regret it!!!

The other standout dish was the Kheema Pav ($15) which is minced goat cooked with tomato and spices, topped with a raw egg yolk. Instead of rice, it’s served with two delicious rolls for dipping.

I LOVE the ability to eat this mixture and egg yolk with bread. I just wish there was more bread to soak up all of the goodness!

All in all, I was in awe of the amazing delicious food that night and the fact that I’ve been missing out on all of these Indian dishes that are abundant in India but not available in Vancouver made me really sad. However, now that I know such food and street eats exist, I will definitely be returning any time I want some real and authentic Indian food. Two thumbs up!!

Service Rating: 4.5/5

Food Rating: 5/5

Price: $$$-$$$$

Overall Rating: 5/5

 

Happy Eating!