Vada pav – a spiced fried potato dumpling served in a dinner roll / bun is a favourite street food in Mumbai. Having born and brought up in Mumbai, I have loved this too and have had the best vada pavs in the city. However in the UK there isn’t any vada pav place near where we live. So in Dubai being able to go and have one, or even order one is a luxury which I truly cherish. Many months ago we ordered from O’pao after having read good reviews and looking at the interesting options on their menu. O’pao serves this favourite snack and more, having created an entire menu centred around the ‘pao’, while sticking to Indian flavours and roots. Yesterday instead of ordering, we decided to visit. We have enjoyed eveything we have had from here (dine in and delivery).
What we had
DRINKS
Masala thumbs up – Thums up (an Indian cola) with mint and masala was really good and refreshing. It felt good to have this with the spicy paos.
VEGGIE PAOS
O’ vada pao – The classic Mumbai style vada pav – fried potato dumpling in a bun. This ranked highly amongst the vada pavs I have had. It was just like the ones you would get on the streets of Mumbai. The potato dumpling was perfectly spiced and the chutneys were very tasty too. This one is a must have. This was part of a previous takeaway order. It was still hot when it arrived and was packed well.
O’ Manchurian pao – Veg manchurian (Indo chinese style) balls served in a bun. I love Manchurian so we had ordered this one along with the classic vada pav. This was quite good too.
O’ Paneer bhurjee pao – Spicy scrambled cottage cheese in a soft warm bun. If you love paneer bhurjee or paneer anything, this is a must try too. The paneer bhurjee was spicy and very delicious. I loved the chopped green chilli pieces in it!
O’ Bun Maska – Buttered bun. We ordered this for the little one and asked them to add some cheese in it too. They were happy to customise it for us. The little one happily devoured this hot buttered bun with cheese melted in it. Who wouldn’t like this? 😉
Non Veggie paos
O’ Kheema pao – Spiced mince meat served in a bun. Kheema pav – minced meat cooked with spices and served with bread is quite a popular dish in India. This kheema stuffed in pav was spiced really well and was very tasty.
O’ Seekh Kebab Pao – Seekh kebabs stuffed in a bun. Seekh kebabs are usually served with coriander and mint chutney and I loved that this seekh kebab pao had the chutney in it too. The kebabs were cooked well and were tasty.
O’ Mutton Khicha pao – Pulled mutton cooked in Indian spiced stuffed in a bun. This is like a sloppy joe or a pulled pork sandwich but with mutton and is cooked with Indian flavours. This was our favourite pao other than the Classic vada pao. The meat was tender, juicy and was bursting with flavours. I highly recommend this for meat lovers. It is just amazing!!
We also ordered some masala fries on the side. These were crispy and weren’t spicy so the little one enjoyed these too. All the buns were served with chatpata twisties (fryums). I had the fryum rolls after so long. The little one loved these too. We had fun popping them on our fingers and eating them 🙂
We haven’t had any dessert here. Maybe next time.
This is quite a small place but when we went it wasn’t busy. The service was pretty quick and the staff is very warm and friendly. I found it quite reasonably priced too. This has become one of our favourite places and it goes without saying that we will be ordering from here very soon. 🙂
Child friendly – YES. I couldn’t see any highchairs but our little one seemed to be quite comfortable. She was happily roaming around and enjoyed her buttered bun.