Correct Food Series: Cutting Chai at Kaalu's Stall, Vile Parle.
How can you make cutting chai and the experience of drinking Mumbai's most popular beverage even better? All you have to do is pause and have a cutting chai at Kaalu Mama's Tapri on the Tejpal Road running parallel to the railway line on Vile Parle (E) like the auto drivers of the station, down the road.
It was the line of drinking water pots where autorickshaw drivers who operate from outside the station were stopping and saying hello to the man making chai that alerted me to the place. Kaalu appeared to be a busy but cheerful man who seemed to have many years of experience.
One sip of the chai and I discovered what was different. It wasn't anything new but the use of a coal and coconut shell powered stove instead of the usual kerosene stove that gave the chai a special taste.
Maybe other make it this way too but this one was truly rich, the flavour of smoke was just right and I liked it enough to talk about it to you.
