Multicultural metro, melting-pot cuisine

There are two types of food cities. The first is rooted in a particular region, dominated by one or two communities and their cuisines. Ever since Partition, Delhi has Punjabi-Frontier (tandoori ), with its older Mughlai-Kayasth food pushed to the margins. Chennai is Tamil, though not just vegetarian Brahmin, but also the nonvegetarian food of Chettiar, Mudaliar and other communities. Kolkata is overwhelmingly Bengali, despite pockets of Anglo-Indian, Chinese and other communities. Mumbai is the second type of food city. The food of the state in which it is situated can be surprisingly hard to find, barring the handful of Maharashtrian places in Dadar, a few outliers like Purepur Kolhapur and several Konkaniseafood places. Gujarati food, which could claim to be the original native food, no longer dominates, though there are still good thali places (and rather more overrated ones), and it could still be said to form the basis of much of the street food. South Indian food sold by the Udipi Shetty community feeds a huge number in the city each day, not least by the Gujaratis who have happily taken to idlis and dosas, although only after spiking the sambhar with a dose of sugar (they have also produced a wonderful fusion snack with dosa khakras). But Udipi food is hardly iconic for the city, and doesn't even represent what the Udipi community itself eats at home, but is a weird melange of vegetarian South Indian, Gujarati and even some 'Chinese'. There is also Punjabi-Chinese adding to the city's mix (not to mention Chinese bhel). Muslim communities add their own delicious mix to the city's cuisine, both in a generalized meat-based cuisine, with variations for each community that are harder to find. There is probably no easier place to find Parsi food than Mumbai (easier, not better), but even here the actual restaurants are few, and tend to fall far short of what homes and caterers can provide. There are now probably more Bengali restaurants in the city, a new and welcome boom. Goan restaurants on the other hand are still far too few, and dependent on New Martin in Colaba to uphold any kind of quality.
So, no single food dominates Mumbai, and the positive side to that is how it makes the city into a great gastronomic free-for-all. You may well be able to eat better examples of each kind of cuisine outside Mumbai, but no other city in India will give you such variety in one place. This is helped by the city's geographical position, easily able to get produce from both north and south. Because it is by the sea, it has seafood culture, which Delhi lacks. Because it is close to the ghats, you can get the strawberries and salad veggies of cooler climates. Because it is a magnet for expatriates and Indians returned from abroad, you have a cosmopolitan culinary appreciation crowd who can patronize, as well as invest and work in restaurants that bring food from around the world. Explore here Restaurants in Mumbai.Yet there are negatives. It can sometimes seem easy to eat a lot of average food, but very little really good stuff. Mumbaikars can be easily pleased with mediocrity (embodied in countless 'multicuisine ' restaurants), while really good places struggle. The constant hunt for novelty and an obsession with international food means that we can forget our really good traditional foods. Nothing embodies this more than the current fad for basa, a totally tasteless imported fish.  The city's structure squeezes restaurants as well. Insane real estate rates are killing off much of the middle layer of good restaurants increasingly our choice is only between expensive premium places and downmarket ones. Yet the city is inventive and tries to find solutions, like home delivery and food festivals. High calorie foods, which are the easiest options, are directly responsible for soaring rates of obesity and diabetes, but health food products-or products that claim to be health food-can command high prices, like the Rs75 per litre Pride of Cows milk recently launched in South Mumbai. And shamefully, under all this, malnutrition stalks the city's margins. Flambe Restaurant in Bangalore also provides Chinese, North Indian and Continental cuisines .this restaurants is in Koramangala, and people love to eat food here. Mumbai's food map reflects the chaos of the city, but it is why food is never boring here. The city is constantly cooking, eating, comparing cuisines, trying new foods, reviving old ones, talking, arguing, blogging, bragging and eating more. You want to break the ice with a group of Mumbaikars? Get them talking about food. Mumbai's cuisine is a constant conversation, where anyone can partake, participate and eat.
Source “toi”