I am big street food fan especially when it is from Mumbai. Be it vada pao, sev puri, pani puri, pao bhaji, you name it - I love them all. During my stay in Mumbai, there were times, when I would just survive on these. Though I love Delhi food, yet when I returned to Delhi, I missed those street foods of Mumbai.One fine day, Varun Puri who is a friend of mine, shared that they are bringing the famous shiv sagar of Mumbai to Delhi. And guess what! - They have all those dishes which are my favorite. Varun Puri whom I know since his Massive restaurant days when he worked with Zorawar Kalra, is equally enthusiast about street foods of Mumbai. His thought around Shiv sagar was simple - He said “I always wondered that most of the Delhi restaurant open up branches in Mumbai but hardly have had Mumbai based restaurant in Delhi. This is why got the franchise of The Famous Shiv Sagar of Mumbai.
Shiv Sagar is one of the most popular eatery in Mumbai and been doing great business over the years. It’s not a fine dine restaurant but it’s more of a casual restaurant where you not only get street food but also some nice north Indian food. So on the first day when it was open to public we decided to visit the place after the children’s book fair and we were quite hungry too.
I was surprised to see that people were waiting outside to get seated; surely it’s an effect of social media, where everyone was talking about the famous Mumbai place that was soon to open in Delhi. Thankfully we got the seat and while we were hungrily looking at the menu, Varun came up and shared his suggestions. We happily agreed and started following his recommendations. I was clear on one thing. I will have my focus on Mumbai dishes and then if appetite allows, I will move towards other stuff.
We started with juice shots which were served beautifully in cute test tubes (which you must have seen in your chemistry labs in your schools). We had watermelon and orange juice. While we loved the orange one, watermelon was little salty for our taste. The Chinese bhel puri and idli chilli masala was something which will make you keep coming back here often! Both were lip smacking! I loved their vada pao, something which I really miss in Delhi. Pao bhaji was again very nice, and my son enjoyed their plain dosa. Typically he doesn’t finish his dosa - well he did here! I loved the crunchy Sev puri love their desert too – Pan Kulfi (indian desert with betal leaf) was something which I never had and it is perfect for those who love the taste of pan. And even if you don’t you will love this dessert!
This is one place where I would love to come back again and again. Next time when I amd there, I will try their north indian spread as well.
