Journey in search of vada pav.

vada pav. uttering these two words itself, make my mouth water...crisp and hot deeply fried batata vada in between an innocent pav, made fiery demon by generous sprinking of lasan chutney ( dry powder that will surely make ur eyes water and make u ask for water), green chutney ( younger brother of lasan chutney) and khajoor chutney ( the sweetest of the chutney brothers)
made from boiled, mashed alu/ or potato, its a mix of lasan, chopped green chilles, cilantro or coriander, haldi and salt, dipped in gram flour batter and fried till golden crisp in oil...
give me a blazing hot vada pav anytime...I just love it, its much more humble, and anytime tolerable than the bland Macdonald burger, and cheaper too. thats why its still reigns as an ultimate choice for the college students.
discovery starts at home. one of the savouries my mother is famous in all my relatives is her batata vada...and when that hot smell waifes at my self, it surely has me absolutely captivated
the next stop is one of the many ubiqutous stalls that specialse in all the roadside fare...including mouth watering bhajias, and samosas. but we will get back to that stuff some other time. hot vada with pav is good anywhere...but some grandest ones I had were as follows;
@mithibai college, next to the chaiwalla...they are absolutely melt in mouth but what makes them real special from all the others is that they add a blob of butter to the pav...the combination of chutenys, pav and butter ( maska to b precise) and the real mcoy, batata vada, piping hot....makes a real deadly combination.
chutneys ...are varied...but batata vadas with cocunut chutneys is one another deadly combination, for which many of vile parle (east) and dadar hotels are famous...but truely the atom bombs of of manju vade vala or shree krishna vada vala are absolutely great. tucked in one of the buzy lanes of ever buzy dadar, this vada are a fond memory or anytime favourate after some shopping at dadar.
the last stop is vada vala outside VT station who actually offers kachumbar in the vada pav...that combi is healthy and absoultely sinful.
Vada pav has evolved for a street or common mans food to something of an icon, see jumbo vada pav...
but still...give me piping hot vada pav, with lasun chutney and I will surely say..." paradise is here"