Mumbai Mania

In this scorching Mumbai heat, you need a chilled beer to cool down. Have you wondered where you can just hang out with few friends and not end up paying too much either.

There are quite a few places in Mumbai where you get beer at a reasonable cost, from Rs 80 to Rs 130. While some bars and restaurants have a reasonably good ambience, there are few places where you just need to go and drink.

Cafe Oval

Opposite Oval Maiden in Churchgate is this small-sized Irani restaurant, one of the few remaining in the city, which serves only beer and snacks. Its easy to miss this place because of its location, we chanced upon it when we saw few people having beer inside, and thought of trying it out.

There are around 8 to 10 tables inside, but its still not noisy like most of the fancy restaurants. Cartons of beer are stacked everywhere, so you know this is the right place to tank up.

The cost is pretty reasonable around Rs 80 to Rs 90 per bottle. For snacks they have chips, peanuts, cheese cubes, which made me very happy, sandwiches etc. The crowd, mostly men, was decent, you will probably find an old man drinking on one table and group of friends on the other.

Address of Cafe Oval

Cross Building
M K Road,
Churchgate

Apoorva Restaurant and Bar
It use to my regular hangout when I was working at Indian Express, because of its affordable food and drinks. Located near Fountain, close to Hornimon Circle, Apoorva serves beer and other liquor at a good price, a large Rum and Coke won't cost more than Rs 35 or so.

Its known for its sea-food, especially fish, and pomfret, bangra and prawns are suppose to be fresh and tasty. At least that's what my friends have told me, I am a vegetarian.

I have tried few of their Indian dishes, it makes a good meal. Quite a few stock brokers come there and office goers. The ambience is not that good, but if you want to tank up before heading for a pub, then Apoorva it is.

Address of Apoorva Restaurant and Bar
Noble Chambers,
S. A. Brelvi Road,
Near Horniman Circle,
Fort
tel: 22-22870335, 22881457

Gokul

The drinking den of Indian males features even in Lonely Planet. Gokul is the old favorite bar behind Taj Mahal hotel on Tulloch Road. Its the place where everyone from college kids to old men go for an inexpensive drink.

There is no music, or decor, or fancy cocktails, you order for your drink and get it in a jiffy. The upstairs A/C section is where real drinkers sit, you also might find the odd woman, but beer is really cheap here.

Address of Gokul bar
10 Tulloch Rd,
Colaba
tel: 022-2284 8248

Cafe Ideal
An erstwhile Irani cafe, which serves vegetarian food and beer. It has an ideal location, facing the sea, so hop in for a couple for beers, play some songs on the jukebox and go for a walk to Chowpatty beach.

The prices are a bit higher than Cafe Oval, but definitely cheaper than Leopold's and Cafe Mondegars.

You can choose from a variety of cuisine, Indian, Chinese and Continental food. Try the mushroom/paneer chilli, sautéed mushrooms or chilli cheese toast for starters, follow it up with some nice Indian dish.

Address of Cafe Ideal

Shop No 5, Fulchand Niwas,
Chowpatty
Tel: 22-23630943

Seaview Restaurant

Another restaurant-cum-bar with a great view. Among the places mentioned in this list, Seaview would take the honors at least in terms of the view. Its situated right on Juhu beach. making it the perfect location on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

A bottle of beer would cost you around Rs 120, and they have variety of snacks on offer.

If you know of any such places which you would like to recommend, then drop a comment, we will add it to the list!

Mumbai mania, its a perfect name for whats happening today, Mumbai is in the midst of chaos. Sadly the city who was known to be resilience where during the some of the toughest times like the bomb blasts or the floods came together as one, where caste, creed and division took a backseat has now been shattered.

The fabric of the city was slowly torn, but in recent times it has been much worse. It started off in February this year when Raj Thackeray, the right wing leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) enticed his followers to beat up North Indians.

This Sunday the students who came from North to give an exam in Mumbai were jointly trashed by the MNS and the Shiv Sena you can watch the video below.

Post that Raj Thackeray was arrested early this morning and he was taken to the Bandra Court. He had warned the government that if he was arrested they would burn down Maharashtra. As he stated his party members got violent and started a destruction rampage. Most of the shops in the city were closed today and the leader was sentenced to two weeks in judicial custody.

A huge number of police were deployed to keep the situation in control, they even ended up lathi charging people. We do hope there is a peaceful end to this turmoil at the moment the situation is quite grim.

Mumbai's traffic woes are well known, with the situation reaching alarming levels.

The scenario might change soon with BMC's plan to redesign the routes and reduce the number of traffic signals, but only in South Mumbai.

Probably because South Mumbai is considered to be the business hub, and by making these changes will reduce the time people spend waiting at signals.

This is definitely good news for people who travel to town for work. The plan is to convert the heavy traffic roads into one way and divert additional traffic to two-way roads.

When this is implemented, traffic will be reduced at Malabar Hill, Kemps Corner, Peddar Road, Tardeo and Haji Ali area as they will be turned into one-way roads.

All this comes at a cost. The BMC will implement the Area Traffic Control Project worth Rs 50 crore funded by the World Bank under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

The number of traffic signals will also be drastically reduced on these roads, and they will be automatically controlled. This will lead to some chaos initially, but if implemented systematically, it will be a great boon. Maybe the radio channels will regret if traffic smoothens out.:)

I was looking for a taxi from Kalbadevi road to go to Churchgate late in the evening yesterday, and saew that the whole road was cordoned off. No vehicles were allowed to pass by.

With curiosity I asked the cops blocking the road, what happened. One of them replied in a casual manner, that one of the buildings down the road caught fire.

This is not a rare occurrence in Kalbadevi, which is one of the oldest and the most populated neighbourhood in Mumbai.

I walked ahead wondering how bad it was. Johari Mansion, a 100-year old building, was gutted, the cooling operations were still on, as people crowded the place. The smell was quite strong, although the fire broke out at 10.45 am and was brought under control at around 2 pm. Two people were killed, included a three-old child, and four were injured.

There are around 1,200-odd old, dilapidated buildings in this area, built before 1969, and are very closely located, you won't believe the distance between two buildings, would be around two feet. When one building catches fire, it can easily spread to other buildings.

What's worse is that these buildings were originally built for residential purpose, and now houses commercials units, including zari and gold-making units. The workers use LPG gas for melting gold. The civic authorities suspect that gas leak from one of these poorly maintained cylinder connections could have caused the fire.

The scenario wasn't so grim earlier. Only in the last five to six years with the real estate prices of shooting up, more residents opted to leave the area and move towards northern parts of Mumbai.

The only way such incidents could stop is by redeveloping the area, and laying strict guidelines for such commercial units.

We thought initially that the popular cultural event of Mumbai, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival was back with some wonderful art displays and installations.

With great anticipation we reached Kala Ghoda, only to discover that this was a new festival called 'The Kala Ghoda Festival of India.' There were no art displays or creative works, but an exhibition-cum-sale of handicrafts, books, indigenous items designed by rural artisans and food courts. It was held from October 9th to 12th.

Since we expected to see something else, we were a bit disappointed. But we took a short walk around the place, and saw few interesting stalls. This was my favorite stall, although I don't quite know the origin of this work, the colorful woodwork instantly caught my eye.
These beautiful pots and decorative pieces were on sale, showing the rich cultural heritage of India. String puppets from Rajasthan, or better known as kathputhlis. Puppetry is an ancient form of entertainment in India, which generally convey social message to the villagers. There were few unique items around, like the one below, hair clips made out of straw. One of the handicraft stall at Kala Ghoda. The colorful milk can along with some other house accessories. How about serving tea in this pot? Caricature artists on the sidewalk, they are generally sit there even when the festival is not on. These artists are quite good at it too, so if you can sit still for a while, then go get your caricature made. In the evening they had live performances from different artists, singing Bollywood melodies or playing the santoor, etc., and dance performance by Terence Lewis.

There are very few places in Mumbai where you can just relax and sip a hot cup of tea without being surrounded by a cacophony of sound.

Prithvi Cafe, the open air cafe in Juhu, still retains its laid back feel; the dimly lit paper mache lanterns, stone benches placed under trees, and the bamboo fencing around it has a charm of its own.

The cafe, which is part of the well-known Prithvi Theatre, started as a meeting place for artists and art lovers, and it still is, but it also attracts couples, college kids, aspiring theatre artists, who just come to chill and have a quiet conversation.

I remember during my college days I use to visit this place, feast on hot samosas and Irish coffee, which is Prithvi's speciality. I went there recently and noticed the reinvented menu with a lot more choices, I guess to keep up with the ever-changing tastes of Mumbai.

The new management Riyaaz Amlani of Impresario Entertainment, who also looks after Mocha, has done his best to retain the cafe's airy, non-pretentious look. Although it was a bit disappointing when they asked me not to click pictures, well, photography is prohibited in Prithvi Cafe, that was news to me!

Prithvi Cafe's new menu
The menu, hold your breath, is an interesting concoction of Mumbai's culinary delights. Vada pavs are from a popular vendor from Mithibai College, samosas from Gurukripa in Juhu and mawacakes from Merwan’s in Andheri, chaat and pav bhaji from Sharma’s at Juhu, sandwiches, pattice and khaari biscuits from American Express Bakery in Bandra.

The popular bun maska from Irani cafes, if you want something more spicy then kebabs are served from Noor Mohammedi. Desserts, any guesses, are from some of the best places, Mocha, Brownie Point and Pot Pourri.

In spite of the change, the cost of the food was fairly reasonable. We had a cutting chai (Rs 15), mocha shake (Rs 75), samosas (Rs 20) and dahi batata puri (Rs 30). This theme and various food items are modelled on Mumbai's Dabbawallas, who collect and deliver lunch daily to offices all around the city.

Next time you intend to watch a play, then eating at Prithvi would be a good option, or if you just want to have a quiet, peaceful time, Prithvi it is!

How to Reach Prithvi Cafe?

20, Janki Kutir,
Juhu Church Rd,
Mumbai 400 049
Contact : +91(22)26149546

Where in Mumbai can you have a meal for less than Rs 40, sit for long hours in a subdued environment and sip on hot chai (tea)? The good old Irani restaurants of Mumbai, which conjures an image of freshly made brun maska (bread and butter), garam chai(hot tea) and faded interiors. In spite of the fast-paced life of the city, time moves in slow motion in Irani cafes. The few remaining in the city still retain the old world charm with casually dressed waiters, wooden chairs, and marble top tables. People from all walks of life come to enjoy simple, yet tasty food of Iranian cafes.

Unfortunately, with new eateries and fancy joints popping up on every nook and corner of the city, Iranian cafes found it hard to sustain themselves. In the 1950s, there were 350 Irani cafes in the city and today, only 25 remain.


One of the most popular Iranian joint is the 104-year-old Kyani café, a heritage landmark near Metro in South Mumbai. Run by third generation of family, Kyani serves fresh bread, all kinds of biscuits from Khari to mouth-watering macaroons, puddings, custards, apple pies, along with mutton patties, kheema pav, omelette, they all are simply delicious! While passing you can get the aroma of bread and pastries tickle your taste buds.

Another popular Irani joint is B. Merwan, started in 1914, right outside Grant Road station, in South Mumbai, is well known for its pudding, which sells like hot cakes and gets over in the morning itself. It costs merely Rs 8 to Rs 10. Could you imagine that the menu at the cafe has been the same for 91 years while most of the other Irani cafes have given way to newer cuisines like Chinese food or fast food etc. The chairs in this cafe are from Czechoslovakia and the marble top tables are from Italy, something which you don't get in stores anymore.

Walk back in time

It seemed that Irani cafes started when small groups of migrants (Iranians) would meet in the evening to discuss their life and their future. One such evening, a man served tea to everyone and charged them a token amount. The result, a new business was born. This was the beginning of probably the first Iranian cafe.

With only 25 remaining, we can only hope that these don't turn into a beer bar, or a modern restaurant like the rest of them. Let the tradition of dipping maska pav in steaming chai live on!

The last of the Irani cafes

Cafe Mondegar, Colaba
Cafe Leopold, Colaba
Paradise Restaurant, Colaba
Cafe Oval, Churchgate
Britannia Restaurant, Ballard Estate
Cafe Ideal, Chowpatty
Jimmy Boy, Fort
Kyani Cafe, Dhobi Talao
B Merwan, Grant Road
New Country Liquor Bar, Fort
Cafe Military, Fort
Koolar and Company, Matunga
Mocambo Cafe, Fort
Paradise, Colaba
Cosmopolitan Restaurant, Prarthana Samaj
Cafe Excelsior, Fort
Cafe De La Paix, Girgaum
Daryush Restaurant, Girgaum
Free India Restaurant and Bakery, Mahalaxmi
Cecil Restaurant, Grant Road
Byculla Pharmacy

Image Source:

Irani Cafes: Mumbai's Past

How strange is it, I allow a corporation to sell you something that kills you because I make a lot of money on the taxes on the product.

I also tax you when you buy the very same product. Basically when one cigarette is sold the Government makes a sum that is more than half the cost of the cigarette. But from today onwards not only will you be taxed but you will also be fined if you are smoking in a public place.

Its not that I oppose this call for banning cigarette smoke, I think its wonderful but the irony of the situation makes me want to laugh.

From today onwards, hotels, restaurants, pubs, offices, airports, hookah bars and public places like bus stops is out of bounds for you to light up your nicotine stick.

But if your live in Maharashtra theres nothing to fear at the moment, except of course if the cops want to make a fast buck they still will, the BMC blew up the Health Ministers hopes of a smoke free Maharashtra.

The funny part is that the Beedis, Gutkha and other tobacco products apart from Cigarettes sum up to 86% of the consumption of Tobacco in India, cigarettes account for the remaining 14%. Will a ban on cigarettes push up the overall health of the country? With these statistics, not really.

But its sure is going to improve the salary of most government officials, if you take a look at the number of people who can fine you, looks like the only thing that's going to happen is a lot more government officials can exercise corruption.

Film Festivals bridge the cultural divide between countries and build better understanding among people on peace, harmony, issues etc.

One such festival to be held in Mumbai from October 16th to 23rd is the 7th Third Eye Asian Film Festival to promote Asian cinema.

Covering countries from Turkey, Japan, to Middle East, West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Far East, Asian Film Festival will show the diversity and at the same time cultural similarities through films. As many as 80 films will be shown from 20 different countries.

The films will be screened at Fun Republic in Andheri, Plaza in Dadar and YB Chavan Centre in Nariman Point. An international jury will select the best first film of a director and best short film (fiction) in the competition section.

Asian cinema has slowly but steadily emerged into international spotlight by winning accolades at important film festival. The week-long festival will have a mix of short films, classics, and contemporary Asian films. The movie schedule is not out yet, will keep you posted on getting more information.