Faster than fast food and without the frills of fine dining, street food feels like the happy medium of meals, and India is its biggest supporter. From the treasured vada pav, which has Mumbaikars salivating at their very mention, to Mysore pak, whose popularity can be put down to the sugary cravings of a sweet-toothed king, India’s street food scene is a feast for all the senses. Criss-cross through Kolkata's car horn soundtracked streets for kathi rolls and saunter along the buttery blonde beaches of Tamil Nadu in search of sundal. Let your senses lead the way in Jaipur where kachori stalls can be found round almost every corner and reward days roaming Ladakh’s precipitous peaks with steaming bowls of Nepalese momos. Read on to discover the best Indian street food.
Vada Pav
Mumbai
Despite being known as the ‘City of Dreams’, Mumbai rarely sleeps. Home to Bollywood, the Taj Mahal and 27 million-plus locals, it’s hard to imagine how it ever stays awake. But it does, thanks to vada pavs. Humble yet beloved, these deep-fried potato dumplings, sandwiched between crispy buns and topped with generous helpings of garlic chutney and green chillies, are precisely what urban legends are made of. Created in a moment of experimentation outside Dadar Station in 1966, they quickly caught on as the go-to snack for weary workers across the city and became a symbol of Marathi pride. To this day you can still visit the original Dadar stall or some of the other 20,000 vada pav stalls dotted across the city.
Kachori
Jaipur
Flamboyant, majestic and grand, Jaipur rarely needs an introduction and neither does its food. Found down the heady lanes of its frenetic old town and across Masala Chowk, the city’s open-air food court, Jaipur is a gamut of flavours, but its magnum opus is kachoris. Unarguably one of the best Indian street foods around, these round deep-fried pastry snacks are the perfect pick-me-up any mealtime. Pick up a potato filled kachori on your way to the honeycomb Hawa Mahal or order one for dinner with a side of aloo dum. What’s not to love?
Kathi Rolls
Kolkata
Kathi rolls may only have three ingredients, but that’s enough for Kolkatans. Around since the British rule, they are aptly named after the bamboo sticks (kathi) the marinated meat and onion filling is skewered on. Wrapped in a flaky paratha and pinned together with a cocktail stick to make sure no flavour escapes, they taste like a distant cousin of the kebab – only better. Watch skilled chefs at Taltala’s Kusum lather buttery parathas in fragrant green chutney and those at Anamika, the hole in the wall favourite, dole out oozing alu-cheese rolls so fast you barely have chance to scan their lengthy menu. The thing with the Kolkatan kathi roll is that everyone likes to give them their own spin. Your only challenge is to find the one you like the best.
Nepalese Momos
Ladakh
Ask a Ladakh local what the best Indian street food is, and they’ll say momos. Even though they hail from Nepal, they are a Ladakhi staple, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t think the same. Prepared on steamers called mokto, these crescent-moon-shaped dumplings usually come stuffed with minced meat, vegetables and cheese, all cosily wrapped in a soft sticky dough. It’s like they were made for the chilly region too, often accompanied with tastebud-tingling chillis and achar (picked vegetables). Wander through the snow-capped city of Leh, past winding alleyways burrowed beneath eroded chortens and find yourself uncontrollably stopping at 100ft intervals to sample the treasured dumpling from inviting holes in the walls.
Sundal
Tamil Nadu
Sundal is ubiquitous in Tamil Nadu. Found across homes, street food shacks and beaches (particularly in Chennai), it is probably the most versatile street snack of them all. Often served in a paper cone, it’s made from crispy chickpeas, spices, curry leaves and fresh coconut. Crunch on it as you stroll through pretty Pondicherry, the once-French-now-spiritually-minded city filled with bougainvillea-draped townhouses and bustling markets or have a go at making your own at a cooking class in the state’s culinary superstar, Chennai.
Mysore Pak
Karnataka
You can thank King Krishna Raja Wodeyar for this one. Craving a sweet treat after lunch, he asked his chef to whip him up something new – and so Mysore pak was born. Made from sizzled and set gram flour, ghee and sugar, it has the consistency of a sweet buttery cookie, and proved so popular with the king that he proclaimed it a royal sweet in 1935. Now a firm favourite among Kannadigas, you’ll be sure to find it down the labyrinthine streets of the Devaraja Market, or during Dasara, when the city dons its party hat for ten days straight and celebrates with colourful carnivals, dances and, of course, Mysore pak.
Header image by Carol Sachs