It might sound clichéd, but food has no boundaries. If it satisfies your cravings and appetite, then who cares about the name and the origin.
Just 300 metres from Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s birthplace, the narrow bylanes of Kharadar now have a whiff of desi Indian Tadka. Now, the people of Karachi can enjoy Mumbai’s staple street food, Pav Bhaji and Vada Pav.
Pav bhaji is a mix of butter-laden vegetable curry (bhaji) served with a soft bun (pav). Its origins are in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is one of the most loved vegetarian snacks on the streets of India.
The new hotspot here, named “Mumbai Pav Bhaji”, has the latter two words written in Hindi on its flex board. The shop has pictures of Mumbai skyline, Haji Ali Dargah, and gateway of Indian adorning the walls.
The shop was opened by Rizwan Shah in July 2020 after the coronavirus lockdown norms were relaxed in Pakistan. Talking to MM News, the owner said, “I had my first pav bhaji at an Indian restaurant in Dubai a few years back.”
“In Karachi, there were only two to three places where Pav Bhaji were available. An Indian chef friend of mine shared its recipe with me. When I came back to Pakistan, I thought of starting this restaurant,” he said.
Speaking about how the dish is prepared, the owner said, “Bhaji has a mélange of vegetables cooked with butter and pav bhaji masala, a special spice blend which creates a magic. The piping hot bhaji is topped with a generous amount of butter and garnished with coriander leaves.”
It is then served alongside butter toasted pav, chopped onions and lemon wedges. Then you are ready to dip the pav in the bhaji and relish it. The owner further said that most of the spices used in the preparation of Pau Bhaji are locally sourced while some spices are imported from Dubai.
They sell the spicy pav bhaji at Rs160. So head out if you haven’t tried the Mumbai’s most popular street food yet.
