Exploring Coloba

There are other impressive buildings in the area including the state police headquarters and Mumbai's main museum. I also stopped to look at the historic Regal cinema. I was tempted by the idea of seeing a Bollywood movie in the place it was made, but the only one showing was the latest war film, so I decided not to bother.

Many statues and buildings were decorated in orange flags and orange and yellow flowers for Republic Day. 

I wandered around for a while and then went for something to eat. I ended up at the famous Leopold Café which was founded in 1871 by Iranis (a term used for Zoroastrians in Mumbai who arrived in India in the 19th century, as opposed to "Parsis") and named after King Leopold of the Belgians. These Zoroastrian Iranians came to India in the late 19th and early 20th century, and many of them opened restaurants now often termed Irani cafés. It started out as a wholesale cooking oil store and over the years has variously been a restaurant, store and pharmacy, hence the name "Leopold Cafe & Stores". It wad also targeted in the 2008 terrorist attack. Prior to that, the cafe was particularly known as a popular hangout for foreign tourists. After the attack, it is now also popular with many Indians to commemorate the spirit of defiance. The Leopold Cafe has preserved some of the signs of the attack as a memorial.

People were queuing round the block to get in, but being on my own meant that I got seated quite quickly. It was extremely busy, and very noisy, but the lemon tandoori chicken was delicious. Unfortunately, the coffee machine was broken, so I ended up going to a coffee shop afterwards for a coffee and a blueberry Danish which, bizarrely, the waiter served to me with a sachet of tomato ketchup on the side! 😂

Later, I went back to the hotel. It had been a long and tiring day.Read more