Indians sure do love their food. Each city in the country has its own vibrant culture of food streets and markets which are frequented by many on a regular basis. But what is one to do if one craves street food after the clock strikes 12 at night? Many across the country have realised the possibility of such an occurrence and have made it their task to serve hungry Indians even at the wee hours of the night. One such stall is becoming the talk of town in the city of Mumbai.
Michael’s Misal Pav is a food stall located in Sarvodaya Nagar in Mulund West and is known among the residents to be the go-to place for when hunger strikes unexpectedly, especially at night. Run by the Tellis family, it functions from 4 am to 7 am when the entire city is asleep and people are just about to start their day. The members of the family seem to be more familiar and comfortable working in the night time after years of trying their hand at selling tea and driving the auto rickshaw in the city.
The owner Ellis Telli, mostly known as ‘Michael’, hails from the city of Mangalore and decided to move to the city about 45 years ago. He always hoped to have a business of his own and gained experience from working at stalls in areas like Andheri and Bandra to finally start selling tea and misal pav with his two younger brothers. Working in the area for years, he was able to see the transformation of Mulund from a forest to the residential area it is known as today.
On being asked about his odd working hours, he told the Indian Express “I initially started off by selling tea at 4 am and was told that I would earn more as people step out during that time in search of tea.” In its starting days, the stall didn’t manage to churn out any profits for Michael, and it was only after he decided to turn it into an eatery when he slowly started overcoming the losses and attracting more customers. The stall now works as a tea shop in the day and a street food joint in the night. This midnight misal pav is served to the customers at the price of just INR 40 per plate and its other food items include taripav at INR 10 per piece.
The stall proves that no amount of advertising can beat consistency over long periods of time. The misal pav joint attracts a large amount of customers ranging from corporate employees that work till the late hours of the night to youngsters heading home after a wild night of partying. It has become a common name for the people of the city in general and now attracts customers from places like Powai, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Thane and Airoli too. So the next time you are in the area in the early hours of the day and hope to dig into some street food, make sure to drop by!
Feature Image Courtesy: topperzone.com
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