Mohammed Ali Road in South Bombay is a meat lover’s wonderland! The place, as you’d imagine, is choc-a-block with street food vendors, always bustling with noise and captured in that wonderful aroma of slow cooked meat. You can eat and eat and eat and yet there will be something you’d still want to eat! Go only by 9 pm wearing comfortable clothes (which have room) and lots of appetite to begin an enigmatic food walk! Here’s our recommendation of 10 things to eat at Mohammed Ali Road:

1. Kababs at Ruhani Restaurant, Kalbadevi

Well, well. We will let the picture do the talking here. All we can say is – these kababs are soft, flavorsome and hard to eat just two! The ambiance of the restaurant will take you back in time – it’s literally straight out of a bygone era. Totally enchanting.

Locate it here:

2. Chicken Shawarma Roll at Janata Ice Cream & Fast Food

Easily one of the best tasting shawarma rolls across Mumbai. The stuffing is made of this flavorsome chicken which is really soft and juicy.

Locate it here:

3. Tandoori Chicken and Chicken in a Hot Dog Bun

From Janata, continue walking into the same street to see an array of street food stalls – all of them selling varieties of chicken delicacies. Of course, there’s paneer on the menu too but you wouldn’t bother about it, we are sure!  The masalas used in the preparation must be some divine potion because these dishes taste absolutely..well..divine.

4. Chicken Kababs

As you can see, there’s one in every color! The smokey flavor is to die for. Like mentioned before, there will be many shops selling these so pick whichever you like, eat and move to the next shop to try something else.

5. Sesame Bread

These fresh breads look very tempting and you would be drawn to just pick one and gobble up! A small one can be bought for as less as Re 3 / piece. Although, be warned – they are absolutely neutral in taste. They do not have any flavour of their own and hence they are great for eating with an aromatic, spicy chicken curry.

6. Nalli Nihari at Chinese and Grill

Now here’s a tricky one.

In the heart of all the delicious Mughlai and Middle-Eastern food is a restaurant called Chinese and Grill which is famous for its Nalli Nihari. Don’t ask why.

The Nalli Nihari is extremely well done. You shouldn’t miss it for anything! We got some of that sesame bread (mentioned above) inside the restaurant and tried it with this Nalli Nihari and that was a really nice combo! Don’t miss the ginger-chili mix (seen in the background) – you might just have a new addiction to these by the time you leave the restaurant.

7. Sosyo!

Now if you are feeling full and slightly exhausted with all the gorging, here’s something to wash it all down with. The taste may not be liked by all (it’s a mixed fruit flavored soda drink, for god’s sake). It’s a refreshing drink, nevertheless. Available at Chinese and Grill.

8. Chicken Malai Kababs

If you thought we were done with chicken kababs, you were so wrong! Try the chicken malai kababs at Chinese and Grill while you sip on Sosyo. They taste very well done and better than most chicken malai kababs you have tasted before.

9. Egg Rolls 

Relish these rolls for that soft, fluffy, delectable taste of egg in a maida roti or bun. They can be clubbed with some kebabs too!

10. Sanju Baba Chicken at Noor Mohammadi

We ended our food walk at Noor Mohammadi. After eating all of the stuff mentioned above, we STILL had an appetite to try the much talked about Sanju Baba Chicken. The story goes that Sanjay Dutt was a regular at this restaurant at one point in time and on one of those visits he gave them his secret recipe for a chicken curry. The restaurant has a printed version signed by Baba himself.

The chicken curry totally lives up to the hype. It’s soaked in a dense gravy with caramelized onions. Just one bite and you can tell it has been slow cooked and not just assembled together 5 minutes before it reaches the table.

We were so excited and happy about this invigorating food trail at Mohammed Ali Road, we decided to not indulge in any desserts and saved it for another day. So we have to go back again – just for the desserts (which looked celestial).

Locate it here:

However, these are just a ‘some’ of the many delicacies that you can devour on at Mohammed Ali Road and a visit there will let you decide which is your favorite. Do tell us in the comments your own favorites from this paradise for foodies!