Mumbai Mix

The story behind Mumbai Mix Mumbai Mix is a street food business specialising in vegan and vegetarian Indian food that. It is run by a food-loving team of mother and two daughters - Mohini, Deshna and Dimple. Mumbai Mix was founded by Deshna in 2014 who at the time was working as a business analyst and was made redundant from her job. Deshna took her redundancy package and used to it set up Mumbai Mix. Mohini was with Deshna in this journey right from the beginning and together they navigated their way through the world of street food. Mohini, a versatile cook, gained her culinary experience from her childhood where she hopped around neighbour’s kitchens to observe the different ways in which familiar dishes were prepared. Dimple joined in 2016 after reducing her commitments as a dietitian and lecturer at London Metropolitan University. Our stall We currently trade at Farmers Markets across London in busy spots including Bloomsbury, Queens Park, Parliament Hill. We also have an indoor eatery within The National Theatre, South Bank. For our outdoor settings, we operate from a gazebo which has our logo and colour scheme running through every aspect of the stall - including aprons and chopping boards! The stall also includes custom made equipment to enable an efficient service at busy lunchtime trades whilst defending our team from the ever-unpredictable British weather. We have also put together a flow of service that makes it easy to operate efficiently but also for customers to enjoy the theatre of their own tailor-made dish being prepared. Finally, the Mumbai Mix team love having a natter with customers and always ensure there is a friendly face at the start and end of every customer journey. Our food We pride ourselves not only on the taste of our food but also the fact that it tells so many stories. Our food brings in influences from our Indian heritage and also brings together stories of our upbringing in a small Kenyan town where food, family and friends were the life and soul of our days. It also brings in our connection with British farmers and the growing seasons. We love to use fresh ingredients and are the biggest fans of using seasonal fruits and vegetables for our dishes. Every season, we bring an extra bit of magic to our stall by introducing seasonal menu items. Examples are our autumnal pumpkin and squash fillings or our spring wild garlic Dosa (both of which are customers favourites!) Our dishes Our signature dish at our outdoor setting is the Dosa wrap. This consists of a lentil and rice pancake that is filled with a slow-roasted potato and onion filling (vegan) or paneer and rainbow chard filling (vegetarian) or both! We then add our fresh green chutney to add heat according to our customers request. The wrap is finished with a drizzle of our three chutneys: tangy red pepper, sweet tamarind-date and freshly ground coconut and coriander. Although Dosas are originally from South India. We have put our own spin into and added our Kenyan influence to all our foods. We make our own Dosa batter by using whole lentils and rice which we grind and ferment. Our spice blends for the fillings are also our own recipes. We don't use shop bought masalas! We only use whole spices which are slow roasted and ground. This is what makes our dosa fillings unique and full of flavour! Additionally, our core vegetables (e.g. onions, potatoes, coriander and rainbow chard) are bought from local farmers. We trade at Farmers markets and we purchase these ingredients from our fellow traders. This not only makes our dishes environmentally friendly but also ensure we are using fresh and nutritious ingredients. Our coconut-coriander chutney is also very special because we definitely don't take any short-cuts with this i.e. use desiccated coconut. Our chutney is made using whole coconuts which we painstakingly crack and peel by hand! The finishing touches of our own "tadka" gives it that extra oopmh. Our signature dish at The National Theatre is out thali. A thali is a platter of variety of dishes all served together in a steel plate. Our thali consists of a number of curries, cumin-spiced rice, wholewheat chapatti, a seasonal pickle and cucumber raita. We have also served the thali at a variety of weddings events and it has been appreciated by all our customers. Below is a testimonial from a recent wedding reception in Devon where we served our thali to 150 guests (seated). "I reached out to Mumbai Mix after enjoying their food at a farmer's market. Deshna and Dimple were immediately very helpful and responsive, and over the course of a few phone conversations we decided on a menu for our wedding. I first reached out about a year in advance so we had plenty of time to think about what would work best for our event. They were kind enough to invite us to try some more of their food at another farmers market during the planning as well. During the back and forth about our choices, they were very flexible around our needs and very transparent in putting together a quote for us and making any changes we asked for. Invoicing was quick and easy and we felt very comfortable in their hands. Closer to the date, we had more conversations about timings, dietary requirements, crockery and other logistics. Dimple and Deshna both brought their own suggestions and ideas for how things would run more smoothly and make the meal and service nicer, all of which were really helpful and made the complex planning process a lot less stressful for us. On the day, the food was all on time as planned and exceptionally good. Many of our guests commented on how good the meal was. Everything was so flavourful and well seasoned, and the different starters and dishes were each complimented by specially made chutneys. Everything was presented so nicely thanks to the team's ideas and sourcing of great quality serveware. Mumbai Mix really went out of their way to ensure our guests had everything they wanted, coming out to check on things and being very sensitive to certain particular needs some guests had. We hired extra serving staff from a different company who sadly weren't as experienced as we might have hoped, but Dimple managed the situation really well and kept everything running quickly and smoothly. Of all the suppliers we worked with we felt that Mumbai Mix took the most care and attention to detail in ensuring everything went as well as it could and people were enjoying themselves as much as possible. It was a really special and memorable day and the meal was a particularly great aspect. We are so grateful for all of the team's hard work and would recommend them enthusiastically for anyone planning a special event. Thank you Mumbai Mix!" Ben Siddall-Jones, September 2022 Our events We have catered at a variety of events including supper clubs, weddings, cafe pop-ups, birthday parties and private dinner parties,. We have also done both indoor and outdoor festivals including The Alchemy festival (South Bank), Chocolate festival, Literature festival at The British library and Queens Park day. We design the event menu based on the setting and pace of service. Our experience of both outdoor and indoor events has given us the ability to be versatile and adapt to the requirements of most event settings. We are diligent with our planning and ensure we provide a professional and personal service from the moment we speak to clients.