Pattice at Dava Bazaar

Uday doesn’t know why his father Prahlad started selling this unique pattice for a living. “Good question” he says and adds that it never occurred to him to ask but the idea could have come from his earlier job with the Jamnagari Farsan Mart located in the opposite street.

Welcome to Prahlad Pattice Center, a cart located near the footpath on the Dava Bazaar street( an extension of Princess street), ahead of the famous umbrella retailer, Ebrahim Currim & Co and right opposite the Standard Chartered/ Progressive Co-op banks. You will notice a board on the cart in Marathi and Gujarati, which says ‘Mava Masalanye Bharlele Special Farali Pattice’. Prahlad has been dishing out these very popular and unique pattices (I haven’t come across a pattice with such a filling anywhere in Mumbai) for the last 35 years.

The pattice has a potato covering, dusted with arrowroot and filled with cashews, raisins, chilli, groundnuts,chironji/charoli pomegranate-seeds, fennel-seeds and then deep-fried. It is neither sweet nor spicy but has an unique taste. You will always get them garam garam as there are three people constantly making the balls and one frying them. They serve it with light green colored chutney, which is strictly ok.

A plate of four costs Rs 12 and you can also buy it by the kilo (40 nos) for Rs 100. They sell more than around 100-150 kgs of pattice everyday and this farali pattice is immensely popular with the chemical/medicine traders in this very congested and busy area.