The Pani Puri goes by different names and indeed even distinctive tastes across different cities in India.While the lyrical city of Lucknow calls it 'Pani Ke Patashey', Delhiites call it 'Golguppa'. And while the literary city of Kolkata lovingly calls it 'Puchka', Mumbai chooses to call it 'Pani Puri'. Pani Puri is unique because, while it needs to be eaten in a close circle, big enough to let you savour your portion, it also needs to be small enough not to make you wait too long. It's emotionally special because it recalls the forbidden pleasures of school and college days. The pani puri we get in Mumbai at most places is a combination of sooji and aata unlike the gol-guppa for instance, that is made usually of only aata, making it heavier than the puri in Mumbai. And the biggest impact to the taste difference in the pani puri has been made by the Sindhis, who have added the sweet imli chutney to the otherwise tangy and spicy pani puri water, making it unique.

While promoting their upcoming Imtiaz Ali film Tamasha, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone decided to stop over for a pani puri at the famous Elco Pani Puri centre on Hill Road. Needless to say that obviously it became a big tamasha there, with all their fans shouting and screaming for attention from their favourite stars grabbing Mumbai's favourite street food in front of them. While Ranbir is a Bandra boy who often orders his pani puri from Elco (though he likes his bhel and sev puri over pani puri), Deepika being a Bengaluru girl missed chat till she came to Mumbai. Talking to us, this self-confessed chat lover said, “I am a huge chat fan. You don't get good chat in Bengaluru, so when I came to Mumbai, I used to live in Bandra and Elco was one of the first places where I had my first great experience of chat.“