Which are the famous ones, and can I work there?
Old Bombay cafes worth seeing, and not for laptops
The Irani cafes and institutions people mean when they say Bombay cafes. Most of them score badly as workplaces, and that is not a criticism: they were built to turn tables, not to host a laptop for three hours. Go for an hour, eat, and leave the laptop in the bag.
10 cafes · ranked by overall score
Most are in South Bombay (9), Bandra (1). The average workability score across the list is 1.1 out of 5. Top of the list: Candies in Pali Hill.
- 1CandiesPali Hill · Bandra3.0Mumbai institutionFour decades of Bandra on several floors and a terrace. Closed Mondays, crowded weekends, worth both.
- 2Irani Cafe - World Trade CentreWorld Trade Centre · South Bombay3.0Irani cafeA modern homage-brand Irani cafe inside WTC that opens at 3am to catch the earliest working crowd.
- 3Paradise Restaurant & BarColaba Causeway · South Bombay1.0Irani cafeDhansak, salli boti, and old-school Parsi comfort food on the busiest stretch of the Causeway.
- 4PiccadillyShahid Bhagat Singh Road · South Bombay1.0Irani cafeCheckered tablecloths and a shopping-break menu right in the thick of the Causeway market.
- 5Ideal CornerFort · South Bombay0.9Parsi foodA twelve-table Parsi lunch room with a menu that changes by the day of the week. Get there by one.
- 6Kyani & Co.Marine Lines · South Bombay0.7Irani cafe1904. Marble tables, slow fans, bun maska. The oldest room on this map and the least interested in changing.
- 7Cafe MondegarColaba · South Bombay0.4Irani cafeMario Miranda drew on every wall here in 1932 and the jukebox never really stopped. Loud, and unapologetic.
- 8Leopold Cafe & BarColaba · South Bombay0.4Irani cafeSince 1871. Keeps its bullet marks on the wall as a memorial and its doors open until midnight.
- 9Cafe MilitaryFort · South Bombay0.4Irani cafeOne of the last real Irani cafes in Fort. Berry pulao, bare walls, no concessions.
- 10Yazdani BakeryFort · South Bombay0.4Mumbai institutionDiesel-oven brun maska since 1953, in a building that started life as a Japanese bank.
Common questions
How many Mumbai cafes are on the "Old Bombay" list?
10 of the 357 cafes on the map currently qualify. The list is generated by a rule over each cafe's recorded data, so it changes when the data does.
Which part of Mumbai has the most?
South Bombay has the most with 9, followed by Bandra (1).
How is a cafe chosen for this list?
Go for an hour, eat, and leave the laptop in the bag. Each entry quotes the recorded field that put it here, and the cafe page shows the sources. We have not tested every cafe in person, so check before a long trip.
Prefer to browse by neighbourhood? See the full map, the 15 best cafes to work from, or which cafes have sourced wifi claims.