My Journey to Foodgasm - Butter Pav Bhaji @ Sardar - Tardeo

PAV - BHAJI - It's one quint - essential street food of Mumbai which every Mumbaikar's love. Mumbai's street food was born of the need to quickly put together food that was cheap and satisfying. Stories about the creation of some of the delights are now an urban legend such as the one about Pav Bhaji.

History of Pav Bhaji's origin is as tasty & delicious as the dish itself. It originated in 1850's when Mumbai was textile capital of India. Textile mills has mushroomed all over Mumbai. The workers didn't have lot of time during lunch hours and wanted something fast to gobble and return to their physical work. Someone saw this problem and came up with a solution or better word a "Juggad", Mashed vegetables like green peas, potatoes, generous dose of tomatoes was made into a spicy curry while the Roti was replaced by Pav (Indian bread) and thus Pav Bhaji was born. 

Another version of the story goes that it was invented as dish for midnight sustenance, thrown together with leftover vegetables and mashed to disguise and spices added and served with couple of pav for workers coming off the night shift.

What ever the story, Pav bhaji was quickly adopted in the menu by the South Indian Udipi restaurants which grew as the city of Mumbai grew over the years and today almost every vegetarian restaurant have this dish in their menu & even every nook and corner of Mumbai would have a street side vendor serving Pav-bhaji. There is an interesting rags to riches story of Mumbai based restaurateur who started his journey serving Pav bhaji !!!! Read the story here : Rag to Riches story of Restaurateur 
Mumbai has quite a few restaurant's all over which are quite famous for their spicy, yummylicous Pav Bhaji and one place which tops the chart and has been topping it for quite a few years is the SARDAR PAV BHAJI located at TARDEO. 


SARDAR's pav bhaji as I read somewhere is not just any Pav-bhaji place. It's a temple, its a shrine for all Amul butter pilgrims !!! If butter was a religion and AMUL butter it's religious head then its janmabhoomi would be AMUL factories and it's karmabhoomi would be this SARDAR's restuarant.Of the all the famous restaurants serving this dish, none is as rich, as good for a taste and as bad for the heart like SARDAR's... A STATUTORY WARNING ..only visit this place if you love BUTTER, BUTTER and MORE BUTTER !!


Being a foodie, I have been to Sardar quite a few times and most recent one was with Delhi based friend whose one wish as soon as she planned Mumbai trip was to eat Pav Bhaji and Sardar's was the obvious first choice. 


Imagine the menu consist of only 4 small pages, first contains 5 types of Pav bhaji out of which two are Amul & Cheese, and the Jain version of Amul and Cheese, last one being Khada Pav bhaji.. that is it ...end of story !!! They don't serve any other dish apart from pav bhaji, Rest on the menu is milk shakes, juices & desserts.


We ordered the Amul and cheese variants and within minutes two plates arrive,One containing thick vegetable bhaji with butter floating on it while cheese variant was generously covered with mound of shredded cheese. As usual Pav had a yellow butter bath, what more can one ask for !!!!


Your arteries will tighten at the sight but your stomach will thank you for the feast. All you need to do is sprinkle some onions and squeeze some lemon on the bhaji and dig in with your fingers. 
The taste still remains the same, dollops of butter on bhaji is still the same and what remains constant is the butter bath given to the pav !!! The prices have gone up over the years but then it's truly the best in the town.


Another notable item on the menu is Masala pav which is yet another tasty, mouth watering dish wherein the red chilly with some spices is added along with butter and pav is soaked in it. It is one hell of a dish not to be missed but surely will make you sweat and red faced with teary eyes for it is super spicy but equally tasty !!

Some deserts like custards, mousse, fresh juice, milkshakes are also on the menu but neither me nor VB had any space left to even think of trying one. The Sardar's menu also list one unique item which I have never seen on any menu in any of the restaurants in Mumbai and it's a necessity after such a sumptuous meal and that is PAN !! Maggai and Dry fruits pan



What more can one ask for !!! I couldn't resist Maggai pan, VB and me hogging on to couple of them. It was yet another satisfying trip for me to SARDAR and all VB could say after our dinner was let's walk for a while !!! SARDAR serves arguably the best Pav-bhaji in town and if you are a Pav-bhaji fan then this is one place not to be missed. 

Location: It's a five minutes walk from Mumbai central station and ask anyone and they will point out the right direction. It's just opp Tardeo bus depot hidden behind the bus stop at Tulsiwadi - Tardeo.

For all the Pav Bhaji lovers I have listed the famous and best Pav-Bhaji destination in Mumbai (Sourced from the web)

1) Sardar's Pav Bhaji - Tardeo
2) Maruti Pav Bhaji - Vile Parle West
3) Bhagwati Pav Bhaji - Kandivali West
4) Sukh Sagar - Chowpatty
5) Canon Pav Bhaji - Fort opp VT station
6) Amar Juice center - Vile Parle west
7) Umesh - Matunga east
8) Manohar - Girgaum
9) Shiv Sagar - Vile Parle east
10) Papillon - Vile Parle east
11) Soli Pav Bhaji - Haji Ali


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