Street food expert Mohit Balachandran guides mid-day to the best eats in the city next door
After a rickety ride on the Kalyan local, we alight at Thane to explore what the streets have to offer. We are here to meet Mohit Balachandran aka Chowder Singh, a serial street foodie and country head, SodaBottleOpenerWala, who has promised to take us on a food trail of Thane's top food joints.
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Masala chai at Sai Kripa
Our first stop is for a cutting. Dressed in blue jeans, white shirt and a beige corduroy jacket, we spot Singh at a table. He smiles and waves, then orders three cups of chai, as we exchange pleasantries. "I make it a point to go exploring the streets for local dishes, wherever I travel," he tells us, adding how local street food has caught his fancy ever since he joined hotel school IHM Kovalam in 1996.
"You need a thick gut to survive the street food, and interrogate auto wallahs," Balachandran laughs. "My most powerful memory of street food is chancing upon bhajias made of chicken claws," he adds. Our chai arrives, and it is milky, sweet and uplifting.
"Initially, documenting street food for my Instagram account was not easy. Owners take time to open up, as they worry about BMC permissions and are usually discouraged when they see a photographer. I had to make some formal cards to present to them, to win their confidence," he says, signalling to the waiter for the bill.
At: Opposite Talao Pali, Thane West.
Call: 25367339
Litti chokha at Durga Snacks Corner
Next up is Durga Snacks Corner. The owner, Prabhuchand from Gorakhpur, Bihar, confesses that had we come on the weekend, he would not have had any time to chat with us. But, we're here on a weekday, and as he roasts the litti over charcoal on a grill, his wife Aarti, who coaxes her husband to smile for the camera, explains the Bihari dish.
The litti are balls made of wheat flour and sattu (flour made from roasting chana in sand), and the seasoning includes ajwain (carom seeds), mangrel (nigella seeds) and hing (asafoetida). The chokha is a bharta of aloo, baigan and tamatar cooked in green garlic, green chillies and coriander. "You wouldn't expect to find this dish on the streets of Thane, would you?" Balachandran asks, breaking a litti and dunking it in the chokha.
At: Opposite Kashinath Ghanekar Auditorium, Thane West.
Call: 9930733387
Vada pav and vada plate at Gajanan
Our next stop is Gajanan at Vishnu Nagar. "They copied the besan chutney, and make it better than Rajmata (see stop 5). The vada pav is also served with a green thecha, and dry red garlic chutney. This besan chutney is going to make it to our menus some day," he smiles.
At: Chhatrapati Sambhaji Road, Thane West.
Call: 25407867
Kokum soda and vada pav at Rajmata
We take an auto ride to one of Thane's oldest vada pav centres, Rajmata. The sun is scorching overhead. "It's the perfect time for a kokum ('10) and kala khatta ('10) sherbet," Balachandran announces, as the vendor takes a glass filled with kokum sherbet and tops it with soda. He repeats the process for kala khatta.
The bubbles blind the eye, but the sweet and sour drink is just what we need to open up a ravenous appetite for vada pav. "They serve it here with a besan and sev chutney," says Balachandran, passing us a vada pav ('13) that comes with green chillies and a yellow paste, which has a green-chilli aftertaste. "This chutney is unique to Thane," he sums up.
At: Sridhar Building, Ram Maruti Road, Thane West.
Call: 8286331111
Missal pav at Mamledar
Next up is Mamledar Missal, which is set in the premises of Naupada police chowky, and is a landmark in itself. The counter is laden with bowls full of missal, sprouts and chickpeas, and topped with their homemade crunchy farsan and chopped onions. We take a seat at a metal table, among patrons who are dripping sweat, thanks to the tikhat (spicy) rasa (curry). Balachandran orders a tikhat, and we opt for a medium, causing his eyebrows to crumple in disappointment.
Mohit Balachandran aka Chowder Singh at Mamledar Missal. Pics/Sachin Deshmane
Within minutes, two plates of missal and pavs are clanked on the table. We dig into the missal, covered in a layer of oily rasa. Fiery, the raw chilli masala hits the throat. "I learn a lot from street food. The masala changes from brand to brand and even lot to lot. When in the restaurant business, you have to be on the ball, otherwise things can slip," says Balachandran, adding that Amantran Hotel, with the same owners as Mamledar's, serves the same missal.
At: Opposite Talao Pali, Naupada, Thane West.
Call: 7039926912
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