A Portuguese dowry handed to the English crown in 1661, filled in causeway by causeway, then rebuilt in Gothic and Deco by the merchants the mills made rich.
1661
Dowry
Bombay passes to the English crown.
1784
Hornby Vellard
The islands begin to be joined.
1860s
Cotton boom
Mills and Gothic public buildings.
1930s
Deco coast
Marine Drive built on reclaimed land.
Price per person₹ under ₹300₹₹ ₹300–1,000₹₹₹ ₹1,000–3,000₹₹₹₹ over ₹3,000
A 1923 café run by an Irani Zoroastrian family, part of the migration from Iran in the 19th and early 20th centuries that gave the city its café culture.
Lunch only on weekdays, closed Sundays, cash only. Order berry pulao and caramel custard.
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Working since 1904, bentwood chairs and bun maska intact — one of the last of some four hundred Irani cafés the city once had.
Go for breakfast: bun maska, akuri and Irani chai.
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Operating since 1933 in the Fort lanes near the Bombay High Court, this Irani café has served the Fort legal district's lawyers and clerks in an unchanged format for nine decades.
Try the kheema pav and a beer; closed Sundays.
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An Irani bakery opened in 1953 in a former Japanese bank, still baking brun pav and ginger biscuits in a wood-fired oven.
Come in the morning when the brun maska is fresh.
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Open since 1871 on Colaba Causeway, a traveler's café and bar that survived the 2008 attacks and kept the bullet holes in its walls.
Better for a beer than a meal.
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A street grill behind the Taj, running since 1946, where kebabs and baida rotis are cooked into the early hours.
Go after 9pm; the original street stall is behind the Taj on Tulloch Road.
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A small Kala Ghoda restaurant whose butter-garlic crab made it Mumbai's best-known seafood address.
Book ahead; the crab is priced by weight.
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A Fort institution since 1977 for Mangalorean seafood — gassi, tawa-fried pomfret and neer dosa.
Order the prawn gassi with neer dosa.
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Pav bhaji was invented for mill workers needing a fast midnight meal; this 1966 stall still cooks it at mill-shift volume.
Order the 'Amul' butter version; open until late at night.
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A Gujarati snack restaurant open since 1963, famous for panki (rice pancakes steamed in banana leaf) and sev puri.
Expect a queue at lunch; put your name down and wait nearby.
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An unlimited Gujarati and Kathiawadi thali served in the heart of the old cloth market since 1945.
Arrive hungry; the servers keep refilling until you stop them.
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A Bhendi Bazaar restaurant open since 1923, known for nalli nihari and its 'Sanju Baba' chicken.
Combine with Mohammed Ali Road's food stalls in the evening.
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A modern Indian restaurant in the converted mill lands, cooking regional dishes from across the country with seasonal produce.
Book for lunch or dinner; good cocktails.
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A Malvani and Konkani seafood restaurant serving bombil fry, prawn koliwada and sol kadhi.
Good for dinner on the way to or from the airport.
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