Had a free morning in Mumbai on Saturday since class was only at 1.30pm so decided to make the most of it and continue exploring the area and catch up with people.

First stop was breakfast with my niece, Pooja Natarajan. Pooja is my cousin’s daughter whom I was meeting for the first time. Pooja works as a lawyer in Mumbai and also loves to do standup comedy. Pooja has lived in Mumbai for 10 years and is smart, self-confident and is an example of what a young professional in India would be like- self-assured, well-travelled and independent! Pooja had lots of incredible tips on Mumbai and life here. Thanks Pooja for making the time!

We had breakfast at The Nutcracker in Bandra and I had the Mushroom on toast and a lovely cold chocolate.

This is quite a popular breakfast spot in this area as there was a line forming as we left at 10.

I then continued exploring the area and was told that there is a place called Elco’s Pani Puri centre which is a must try for Pani Puris. To cross over to that side of Bandra, one needs to go through narrow alleyways only passable to autos, bikes and humans, packed dwellings, loads of small shops selling all kinds of food, clothing and thingamajigs. Fascinating neighbourhood! And Voila you emerge into a wide street filled with international brands like Marks and Spencer #mumbai #acityofcontrasts.

I was gobsmacked at one point at the number of rice varieties available in a small shop in the market.

Look at that! There was probably more in the back of the shop.

Anyway this brought me to Elco’s Pani Puri centre. Mumbai is famous for its street food! Chaats (savory snacks) like pani puri, pav bhaji, vada pav etc can be found at every nook and corner from high end restaurants to cycle wallas. Pani Puris (water and puri) is probably the most popular of them all. They are also called Golgappas in some parts of India. Tiny golf ball sized puris with a hole punctured in the middle that is filled with a sprout and potato filling that is then topped off with a mint green chilly watery sauce and a tamarind sweet watery sauce. You are meant to pop this straight into your mouth in one bite and enjoy the burst of flavours! Because there is water involved hygiene can be a concern with some vendors so as a traveller one should exercise caution. @elcopanipuricentre came highly recommended and it was 80 rupees (rm4.50) for 6 pieces. The server actually does it one by one as he serves it to you! Yummy but I could only eat 3!! Definitely a thumbs up. #mumbaifoodie

Watch how he does it!

With that it was more walking around and off to the next stop battling the infamous Mumbai traffic on a Saturday! Mumbai's traffic is at a different level of madness. A combination of 4 wheelers (cars, vans and everything else), 3 wheelers (auto rickshaws), 2 wheelers (cycles and motorbikes, and pedestrians combined with narrow streets and alleyways makes it a potent recipe for serious gridlocks! And the best mode of transport to cut through all of the traffic is the auto rickshaws that deftly zip in and out of the traffic! This is an example of one of those rides!

Next and final stop before class was Madras Diaries for a South Indian lunch. Had a thali and while it had a good variety- the food itself was quite average. I suppose any food that is taken out of its home territory will have some elements of it being adapted to local tastes. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Guess it all depends on what we have grown up with.

With that it was a quick dash to class to continue our Culinary journey.