Mumbai Desserts: New York Times blog
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Mumbai
February 23, 2010, 6:00 am
Sugar and Spice in Mumbai’s Desserts
By ABBY RABINOWITZ
An evening stroll through Mumbai is the perfect time to sample the city’s signature desserts, many of which come in liquid form. Tucked away near tourist hot spots, you’ll find family-run stands that have been serving up local favorites for generations.
From Chowpatty Beach, walk across the pedestrian bridge to the New Kulfi Center (556 Marina Mansion, S.V.P. Road, Chowpatty; 91-22-2368-4291), which has been drawing crowds since 1960. Kulfi, an ice cream-like frozen dessert so dense it is nearly airless, is cut into narrow blocks, weighed on silver scales and served on a leaf. Out of 26 flavors, the popular favorite is plain clotted-cream, or malai (20 rupees, or about 43 cents, at 46 rupees to the dollar). The menu also includes tasty seasonal flavors like sitafal, or custard apple (30 rupees), and even a sugar-free option. Vivek Tripathi, the owner of New Kulfi Center, ships his product — for trips up to 60 hours.
Just down the street from the Gateway of India, across from the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, is the Gupta Juice Center (A Block, Dhanraj Mahal, C.S.M. Marg; 91-22-2202-3124), which sells “hygienic” sugarcane juice. The owner Jiu Gupta explains that, unlike other vendors, his team scrubs the sugarcane clean and passes it through a stainless-steel press once (rather than several times). The result is a frothy yellow juice, its syrupy sweetness tempered by lemon, ginger and an optional dash of masala, giving it a kick of spice. Mr. Gupta’s father started the stand shortly after Indian independence, hence the patriotic 10 percent discount for defense personnel. But even without the deduction, a “Varanasi glass” runs at a very reasonable 16 rupees. (Eating street food in Mumbai carries some risk, but Gupta’s emphasis on cleanliness differs from the norm.)
Anyone can direct you to Badshah (152/156 L T Marg; 91-22-2342-1943), which opened across from Crawford Market in 1905. Badshah is Mumbai’s favorite source of falooda, an exotic (for westerners at least) beverage made of milk, flavored syrup, clear vermicelli and glutinous basil seeds, topped off with a scoop of ice cream. The Royal Falooda (36 rupees), perfumed with rose syrup, is surprisingly refreshing — for an extra shot of sweetness, stir up the syrup from the bottom of your glass. Badshah also offers salty snacks and seating on two levels.
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