Chatkazz

Chatkazz does vegetarian Indian street food; a hearty, unpretentious style of eating markedly different from India’s restaurant cuisine. Owner Dharmesh Rangparia’s favourite street snack is the chhole bhatura, fried puffed bread served with a sumptuous chickpea curry, and the pav bhaji, a heavily buttered and utterly basic bread roll, which is torn and then dunked or lathered in a thick, rich, tomato-based curry.

The bread rolls may seem inauthentic and banal to those unacquainted with Indian street food, but they’re commonplace in every Mumbai street market. Inside is a mixture of semi-mashed potato, peanuts and dried crunchy noodles with side options of tamarind chutney or light but spicy mint water.

Equally satisfying is the north-Indian fast-food staple, Papri Chaat, or “the biscuit mess”. It’s a mound of crisp dough wafers tossed with boiled potatoes, chickpeas, yoghurt and sweet tamarind chutney. Although very common in India, many of the dishes at Chatkazz can’t be found anywhere else, at least not outside Harris Park’s little India. Rangparia admits it can be difficult to know what to order unless you’ve got a good grasp of Indian food. You might feel ignorant but the staff is knowledgeable and friendly.

Although roadside Mumbai fast food is the restaurant’s speciality, Chatkazz has an enormous menu including homages to most of India’s other street-food traditions. Most recognisable of these are dosa, the south Indian fermented crepes made with rice and black-lentil flour. Another popular dish, from the Gujarat region, is khaman dhokla, a savoury chickpea and fermented rice cake that’s steamed and served with Chatkazz’s ubiquitous chutneys.