A deep-fried spiced potato fritter (vada) inside a soft white pav with red garlic chutney and a fried green chilli. The Mumbai mill-worker sandwich, invented 1966.
Ashok Vaidya ran a snack stall outside Dadar railway station selling poha, batata vada and tea to mill workers and commuters. In 1966 he slipped the deep-fried potato vada inside a pav with red garlic chutney and a fried green chilli. The format spread across the city within years; Mumbai now counts more than 20,000 vada pav stalls.
3 editor picks for Vada pav in Mumbai, ranked by editorial score. All Mumbai signature dishes · Vada pav across every city.
Ashok Vaidya Vada Pav ★ 4.6
matunga · Platform 1, Dadar Railway Station (Western Line), Dadar West, Mumbai 400028
The Vaidya family stall outside Dadar Station has sold vada pav at the same platform since Ashok Vaidya invented the format in 1966. Narendra now runs it.
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.
Fort Vada Pav Stalls ★ 4.2
fort · Horniman Circle and DN Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001
Fort's vada pav circuit runs Horniman Circle, DN Road and Flora Fountain at office-lunch hours. Mill-worker rates have held; the chutney is still made.