and scoop up for my first bite.

Wow, that is amazing.

(rhythmic drum music)

Good morning everyone, it's Mark Wiens

with migrationology.com in Mumbai, India.

It is almost 9 a.m., this is our first day in Mumbai,

and I have a list of a bunch of things,

a bunch of places to eat and some attractions,

some sightseeing to do, but really,

I find it really kind of hard

to make a set itinerary when

you don't really know how to navigate around.

So we are just off to just walk around

for a little while and see what happens today.

(mellow Indian music)

Our hotel is in the Colaba area,

but we're taking a little walk down the road,

or past a couple roundabouts

to an area called Fort.

One of the things I love about India

and that I remember from my previous trips to India

is that even in the huge cities,

the congested huge cities,

you can still always hear the birds chirping in the trees.

That's pretty awesome.

(dog barking)

(street noises)

And all of a sudden, it looks like it's going to downpour.

Even the birds are flying away.

Oh, okay, it's starting to rain

right now as I'm talking.

We didn't get that far,

we didn't get anything accomplished,

but it has started raining.

So far, walking around this area is really nice.

What I really like are all of the trees,

so many trees, and then just like

kind of decaying old buildings,

but it's beautiful to walk around this area.

Luckily, the rain didn't last very long,

and so we are walking now over to

one of the main train stations,

which is known in brief as CST.

(horns honking)

The real name is Chhatrapati Sivaji Terminus,

which I am reading from up here,

but the old name is VT, which is Victoria Terminal,

and there are just masses of people.

It is like a humidity steam bath

in Mumbai right now after that rain.

(mellow Indian music)

(speaking in Hindi)

Okay, thank you very much.

One of the absolute best joys

of being in India is drinking chai,

and you, just walking down the streets,

there are tea stalls everywhere you look.

They brew it fresh, and they add milk in it,

and then they squeeze out the tea leaves,

and then they serve it to you just in small cups,

and it's always piping hot,

actually like burning hot,

my fingers are on fire right now.

Oh, oh I have missed you,

oh that's wonderful.

It's strong tea, you can taste

just a hint of spice in there,

and maybe a little bit of cardamom in there,

and then it's creamy, just fantastic.

There's just nothing greater than

standing along the side of the street

drinking a cup of chai.

Yeah.

(horns honking)

Drinking cups of hot tea on the side of the road

is just one of the great joys of being in India.

It's so good, it's such a simple, fantastic thing.

We are now walking to try and find

a very legendary restaurant in Mumbai.

- [Ing] I think it's right there.

How are you?

- I am fine.

Where from?

- [Ing] From Thailand.

- This is my friend, my friend.

- [Mark] Okay, good, good.

- Why you came here?

- [Mark] Just traveling, and eating.

Came to eat.

- Indian food, okay.

- [Mark] Is it open yet?

- Yeah, it's not open.

- [Mark] Nice to meet you.

When I asked for restaurant recommendations in Mumbai,

Brittania and Company,

this was one of the top recommendations,

so I am here.

This restaurant is famous for serving Parsi food,

which is a combination of Iranian Persian food

and Indian food, and so this is a type of cuisine

that you have to eat when you are in Mumbai.

Also, we got here kind of right as they opened,

so we beat the lunch rush,

but I'm sure in maybe an hour from how,

when the offices are let out,

this place is going to be packed.

And our first dish has just arrived.

I've also got a fresh chapati,

oh, you can feel how fresh and kind of,

it's kind of dense but fluffy at the same time,

and scoop up for my first bite.

Wow, that is amazing.

That mutton is kind of like stringy,

and then the flavor that's wrapped up in it,

but the blend of spices in there,

I'm not even totally sure what is all in there,

but wow, it's flavorful,

and it's really not, it's kind of watery,

as opposed to buttery or oily, which is really nice,

and then all these little fried crispies on there,

they kind of add an extra texture dimension.

It's not so strong, like an Indian curry,

but it has a little bit of a milder taste to it,

but incredibly good.

I'm going to add some of these onions though,

these onions are very tempting,

oh, and a wedge of lime.

This might give it the added boost of fresh crunch to it,

not that it needs anything extra,

but I'm just kind of an onion kind of guy.

Okay, that's a lot of onions.

Wow.

It's such an amazing blend of spices and meat.

I also don't want to pass up this opportunity

to mention how good the chapati is.

The chapati is kind of gooey, but then,

it's light and it actually is really,

it's an amazing chapati.

Thank you very much.

- [Waiter] It's special.

- I didn't even notice this at first

when I sat down at the restaurant,

but something I have to point out to you

is this bouquet of napkins.

What a beautiful stack,

I'm gonna grab one off the top here,

and then also on the napkins.

That is my kind of a phrase.

The other dishes that we ordered have arrived,

and one of the dishes that this restaurant

is very well known for is their berry pulav,

and pulav is, it's similar to biryani,

not quite the same, actually quite different,

but they're famous for serving a berry version,

and I think, I think the berries are like ...

- Bar berries, they are dried,

and this is rice.

- Oh, okay.

Bar berry, okay, they are called bar berries,

and they are, yeah,

they look kind of like very small raisins,

very dried up, or little black currants,

and then also on the top,

there were a bunch of fried shallots,

and then we got the one with chicken,

that's a big nugget of chicken.

Let me just taste, making sure I got

a lot of those berries in there.

Mm-hmm.

It's so fragrant, and those little berries,

they kind of have a sour taste to them.

Mm, it's not really very strong in flavor,

but everything really just harmonizes together.

And then the final dish we got

is something called dhansak,