A spiced mash of mixed vegetables (potato, cauliflower, capsicum, peas) served with buttered white pav rolls. Mid-1800s Mumbai mill-worker lunch invention.
Pav bhaji emerged in 1850s Mumbai when textile mill workers needed cheap, quick lunches between shifts. Vendors near the Girangaon mills mashed leftover vegetables with butter and spice, then served the mash with the Portuguese-introduced pav. By the 1950s Sardar Pav Bhaji in Tardeo had become the canonical city version, and Mumbai still treats the dish as its working-class symbol.
3 editor picks for Pav bhaji in Mumbai, ranked by editorial score. All Mumbai signature dishes · Pav bhaji across every city.
Sardar Pav Bhaji ★ 4.6
tardeo · 166-A Tardeo Main Road Junction, Tardeo, Mumbai 400034
Sardar at the Tardeo bus depot has been the Mumbai pav bhaji benchmark for decades. Butter swims on the griddle; the masala is hot and the pav is buttered.
Cream Centre ★ 4.2
chowpatty · 25/B Chowpatty Seaface, Chowpatty, Girgaon, Mumbai 400007
Cream Centre opened at Chowpatty Seaface in 1958 as a vegetarian sweets and snacks counter. The channa bhatura is the canonical dish; the hot fudge sundae.
Sukh Sagar ★ 4.0
chowpatty · Ground Floor, Marina Mansion, SVP Road, Chowpatty, Mumbai 400007
Sukh Sagar at Chowpatty has run a pure-veg multicuisine menu for four decades. Pav bhaji, sandwiches, dosas and the South Indian counter run all day.