By Ashutosh Raina

Passion, innovation and integrity is what ‘Mumbai Street food’ serves to their customers. Each customer, each order and each transaction is completed with these three values. ‘Mumbai Street Food’ is a business built to satisfy every customer, right from when they are greeted by the enthusiastic staff, to the moment they receive table serviced fresh authentic food, guaranteed to leave their senses buzzing.

Anthony & Maria – the Food’preneurs from Brisbane the brains behind ‘Mumbai Street Food’, which has become more of a permanent stall in Brisbane’s famous Rocklea Markets spoke to Ashutosh Raina from Indus Age, giving glimpses of ‘Mumbai Street Food’ and its journey.

“The business started off with Saturday and Sunday morning trips to markets and being confronted with a scarce selection of genuine Indian cuisine. It was through finding this lack of Indian food in the market, that Mumbai Street Food was born.

Establishing a business which was able to create food we wished to eat but also serve others became our initial aim.

What better way to enjoy an early morning breakfast than starting it off with a warm tantalising ‘Masala Dosa’, freshly made in front of you and served on your table? That’s how we wanted to start our day, and to think that other people would want something similar was an idea worth exploring,” Anthony said reminiscing the days when Mumbai Street Food came into being.

Truly, what better way would it be to start a day with a meal bound to sustain you for an entire day or keep your hunger at bay?

“This was also an opportunity to share our Indian culture and diversity through food.

However, it was mundane to recreate what any other Indian restaurant or stall could make.

The usual naans, rice and limited curry options was not what we had in mind. We wanted to take the beginnings of this business on a uniquely different journey. Why not create something anyone would enjoy regardless of spice?

The drive to producing food which didn’t hold the stigma of ‘spicy’ or ‘hot’, as most would associate Indian food, was another push for starting this business,” Anthony added.

“Creating a sensational feeling of satisfaction and eagerness to come back for more is the mission for this business. The opportunity to share the flavours of India in a way individuals of any taste preferences would be enthralled in, paved the way for the foundations for Mumbai Street Food.

So then it began, researching, experimenting and trialling the possible dishes which would make our menu.

Finding traditional dishes from our childhood such as Frankie or Poori’s and changing them to create a completely new dish altogether was what we did. Many hours of planning and preparing for the markets was invested, but when the time came to set up the stall we were ready; only to come back on the same day with not more than $100,” Maria shared.

“Disappointment didn’t cover the amount of grief it brought to both of us. We had put our hearts and minds into this venture for food prepared from scratch with no short cuts. It was difficult but we wanted to make sure that what we were serving was what our customers were shown.

Nevertheless, over the course of the next few months our menu, setup and perception of our steadily growing business changed. It no longer became a quest to display another variety of Indian food for the world to look at and walk past, no, we wanted people. Come to our stall and try this amazing food which will blow your mind! is what we wanted our business to shout out to everyone who walked past our stall,” Maria said.

“We decided that because we were a small business still readjusting and fixing our nooks and crannies, it would be all the more beneficial to expand and spread our passion for our food. Gone are the days of hiding away at the lonely spot in the markets. We were bringing out the big guns. Want something to eat which is filling but not to filling, sorted here have a Frankie. Looking for a brunch, chicken Biryani. You want something, we’ve got it. It was this attitude we began to develop which helped us understand what our customers wished to eat,” Maria added with a confident smile.

“We want to design this business in a way in which it holds strong to customer loyalty and satisfaction, yet still using classic Indian cooking and incorporating a modern touch, to innovate a desirable menu for any person willing to try something new and exciting. Innovation and passion are two things that can bring this business to life and fully stretch the possibilities of a larger and successful business. Indian food served appropriately has much potential in a food industry brimming with multicultural people lacking the proper menu for an exquisite meal. As there are many dishes and recipes to explore, change and modernize, the products and items produced in this business are seemingly endless,” Anthony was quoted as saying.

(The writer– is a regular/weekend customer in Rocklea Markets, and he doesn’t miss a day to miss “Paav-Burji, Frankie-Roll, Masala-Dosa” and would recommend it to anyone visiting the area”).