Placing his order

When it comes to food, he's a purist, even with street food.

When it comes to food, he's a purist, even with street food.

He wants his paani puri to be chatpatta in true Mumbai ishtyle and his vada pav to have just the right amount of chutney. No fancy fusion vodka paani puri or combination pav is going to work for him.
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Restaurateur Nikhil Chib, who is also a big street foodie, speaks to CS about this culture that has become synonymous with Mumbai:

Street smart

Indians love street food. From ragda pattice to pav bhaji, paani puri to samosas, we're not too picky about where we get our food from or how hygienic it is, as long as it tastes good.

WHO: Nikhil Chib WHAT: Talking about his love for street food WHERE: At Colaba

Every Indian city has its own distinct street food culture, but we're very different from other countries. While we're predominantly vegetarian, most other countries mainly serve non-vegetarian.
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And their street food usually comprises complete meals. I don't think Indians will be too receptive of seafood or salads tossed with prawns and pork being sold on the street.

We might love our pasta, but we won't be too happy having it from a small stall down the road. Indian street food will stay the way it is totally unpretentious.

In good taste

That's what I love about this kind of food it doesn't draw inspiration from any other cuisine. Lot of new restaurants want to deconstruct Indian food to make it more Western.

But I feel that Indian food is like Thai food it needs its flavours. I'm not too much in favour of culinary experiments.

We need more authentic cuisine joints. Thai food tastes quite different in India than it does in Thailand.

Even though Italian food is a rage here, our menus are limited if we're not ordering pizza, it'll be pasta. But there is a lot more to Italian cuisine.

Food for thought

We still haven't explored the French, Vietnamese, Spanish cuisines. We're also quite misinformed about foreign food.

For instance, we still think that the French cuisine is loaded with butter. But that's probably how it was in the 80s.
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Contemporary French food is about taste and produce. We're quite stuck on Oriental food.

I think there is enough room for other cuisines to enter the Indian market. Having said that, I do believe that Indians are experimenting more and more. And it's all in good taste!