Bhutta — roasted corn on the cob — is the quintessential monsoon snack of the Western Ghats hill stations, and Lonavala is no exception. Vendors set up coal braziers near Bhushi Dam, Tiger's Leap, Lonavala Lake, and along the main road, roasting corn to order and rubbing it with lemon, chilli, and salt. A cob costs a few rupees.
It is cheap, immediate, and perfectly suited to the cool damp air of a monsoon afternoon on the ghats. The combination of charred corn and rain-chilled hillside is a sensory shorthand for the Lonavala experience that many Mumbai and Pune visitors associate with childhood trips. Outside the monsoon season the vendors are fewer and less atmospheric, but still present. Worth eating at least once.