Leopold Cafe and Colaba Causeway

Colaba Causeway is the liveliest street in south Mumbai. Its name recalls that there really was a causeway here: in 1838 it was built to link the island of Colaba to the island of Bombay, when they were still separate. Today it is a long arcaded market where you haggle for everything from T-shirts to antiques.

1An Irani café

Leopold Cafe opened in 1871. It was founded by Zoroastrian Iranians, part of the community that came to Bombay from Persia in the nineteenth century and filled the city with cafés of bentwood chairs, mirrors and marble-topped tables. It began as an oil shop, was also a restaurant and a pharmacy, and took its name from King Leopold of the Belgians. The novel Shantaram made it a place of pilgrimage for travellers from all over the world.

On 26 November 2008 it was one of the first places attacked in the Mumbai attacks; around ten people were killed. The café reopened within days and keeps some marks of that night as a reminder.

2Getting around Mumbai

Plenty of black-and-yellow taxis, the kaali-peeli, come along this street. The classic Premier Padmini cabs, a city icon for decades, were retired in 2023, but the colours live on. Always ask the driver to use the meter, or book through an app. And when crossing, be patient: traffic does not always respect pedestrian crossings.

In Mumbai, a café can be history, memory and meeting place all at once.

3What to look for

• The red sign with the date 1871.
• The pavement stalls under the arcades.
• The black-and-yellow taxis, another city icon.