Chembur, Mumbai: A Sindhi Breakfast Guide

Neighbourhood Guides · Discover Mumbai Team · 6 October 2026 · 4 min read

Chembur is an eastern suburb that most visitors never see, and it has one very good reason to make the trip: breakfast. After Partition, refugee camps for Sindhi Hindu families were set up here next to the old golf course, and the families who arrived from Sindh opened sweet shops and snack counters that are still run by their children and grandchildren. The result is the best place in Mumbai to eat a Sindhi breakfast, and a neighbourhood where the history is still on the plate.

Chembur was a quiet corner of Trombay Island until a railway line arrived in the early twentieth century, first for garbage trains and from 1924 for passengers. It grew after Independence with the refugee camps and the industries of Trombay. Raj Kapoor founded RK Studios here in 1948, and it made some of Hindi cinema’s best-loved films; it was sold to a property developer in 2019 and is being rebuilt as flats and shops.

The short version

Getting there: Chembur on the Harbour line, from CSMT or Wadala. Metro Line 2B now runs from Mandale through Diamond Garden to a Chembur station about 200 m from the railway station. From South Mumbai by road, the Eastern Freeway makes it about twenty minutes outside rush hour.
Time needed: a morning
Best time: early. The breakfast counters are busiest from about 8 AM, and some dishes sell out before eleven.
Good to know: the monorail, which starts at Chembur, has been shut for an overhaul since September 2025 and had not reopened as of August 2026.

A Sindhi breakfast trail

The old Sindhi settlement lies west and south-west of the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, a short auto ride from the station or about fifteen minutes’ walk from Diamond Garden metro station. Everything below is within about ten minutes’ walk of each other. Share plates, and leave room.

Vig Refreshments. On CG Road in Sindhi Camp, a vegetarian counter whose story goes back to the late 1940s, when its founder arrived from Pakistan and started selling sweets and snacks without even a name over the door; the name came in 1974. Order dal pakwan, crisp fried flatbreads with a chana dal topped with onion, tamarind and green chutney, and chole pattice, potato patties under chickpea curry.
The dal moong cart. Close by, in a lane near Sattu Sweets, the same family has run a dal cart since around Independence: three kinds of dal, each slow-cooked separately, piled into a sandwich or served on a plate. It is cheap, and it can sell out by late morning. Ask anyone for the dal moong sandwich.
Jhama Sweets. Founded after Partition by a refugee from Sindh and named after him, it is still at its original spot in Chembur Camp, though it is now a chain. Buy Sindhi sweets to take away: gulab jamun, sev barfi and sev boondi are the ones regulars come for.
Delhi Se… If you have room, this North Indian vegetarian room on CG Road in Indira Nagar is known for one thing, chole bhature. Expect a queue at weekends.

Lunch and dinner

Mani’s Lunch Home: the Chembur branch of the Matunga original, near the Sai Baba temple, cooking Kerala and Palakkad food. The limited thali is the thing to order. Closed on Mondays.
Spice Laundry: a first-floor vegetarian restaurant near the station with Italian, Andhra and North Indian food, rooftop seating, and live music some evenings.
Via Bombay: a lively Maharashtrian restaurant near Natraj cinema, for thalis, chaat and sport on screens.
The Unique Family Restaurant: a big family room for chicken dishes and generous portions.

See every restaurant we list here on our Chembur restaurants page.

Practical notes

Autos are the easy way around Chembur; it is well north of the line where they stop.
Cash helps at the older counters and carts, though most now take UPI.
Getting on: Sion, with its fort and the Punjabi food of Sion Koliwada, is ten minutes west, and Matunga and its South Indian breakfast trail are a short ride beyond. A Chembur breakfast and a Matunga lunch make a very good day of eating.