Can I get the old Bombay room without the bad chair?

Mumbai cafes in heritage buildings you can work from

The other half of the heritage answer. These are newer cafes that took over old rooms (stone arcades, mill buildings, Ranwar bungalows) and kept them workable. You get the building and a plug.

10 cafes · ranked by overall score

Most are in South Bombay (7), Bandra (3). The average workability score across the list is 3.2 out of 5. Top of the list: Araku Coffee in Apollo Bunder.

1. 1Araku CoffeeApollo Bunder · South Bombay3.6Heritage buildingAn 1897 building, a modbar, and a reading area someone actually curated. Behind the Taj, and worth finding.
2. 2Taj Mahal Tea HouseSt John Baptist Road · Bandra3.5Heritage buildingForty teas, eighty seats and soft light in a Bandra bungalow. Does dates and deadlines equally well.
3. 3Blue Tokai, New ExcelsiorFort · South Bombay3.5Heritage buildingSpecialty coffee inside a 1930s cinema, with a terrace. The best-value work cafe in Fort.
4. 4Birdsong - The Organic CafeRanwar Village · Bandra3.5Heritage buildingA converted Portuguese-era bungalow in Ranwar where the loudest thing is the birdsong the name promises.
5. 5The Sassy Spoon, Ballard EstateBallard Estate · South Bombay3.5Heritage buildingThe original Sassy Spoon, in a restored Ballard Estate heritage building, with a calmer weekday-lunch crowd of finance and shipping-office regulars.
6. 6Kala Ghoda CafeKala Ghoda · South Bombay3.3Heritage buildingWhite walls, enormous glass doors, and the calm that Kala Ghoda's lanes are supposed to have.
7. 7Starbucks, Horniman CircleHorniman Circle · South Bombay3.2Heritage buildingIndia's first Starbucks, in a colonial-era banking hall. The building is the reason to choose it.
8. 8Subko Coffee, Mary LodgeChapel Road · Bandra3.1Heritage buildingThe reference point for Indian specialty coffee, in a Ranwar bungalow that refuses to hurry you.
9. 9Woodside Inn, ColabaColaba · South Bombay3.0Heritage buildingThe original Colaba gastropub, opposite Regal Cinema, that's long doubled as a daytime work-and-brunch spot for the neighbourhood.
10. 10Royal CafeRegal Circle · South Bombay1.5Heritage buildingSits in the same art deco building as Woodside Inn, at the mouth of the Causeway near Regal Cinema.