Kala Ghoda Café puts the art back in Mumbai coffee culture

An environmentally conscious neighborhood café helps the Kala Ghoda art district live up to its name

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Parsi proprietor Farhad Bomanjee is justly proud of his cafe: "The gallery is blessed with ample light during the day, but is nonetheless kitted out with a sophisticated lighting system to view prints under optimum conditions."

I'm not a regular coffee drinker, but I like the new Kala Ghoda Café because it offers more than just hot coffee and cool air-conditioning.

Last week, after a pot of fresh-mint tea, pesto cheese sandwich, aromatic shot of espresso and two slices of crunchy homemade ginger cake with clotted cream, I realized I'd practically grown roots on the cafe's comfy upstairs leather couch. For most of the morning I had been watching various business types as well as groups of friends come and go as I sat and surveyed the scene. For a minute I felt like I owned the place.

Kala Ghoda Café takes pride in serving "responsible, sustainably grown, organic coffee."

When I mentioned this to Farhad Bomanjee, the courtly 32-year-old photographer, coffee connoisseur and owner of the joint, he shrugged and replied, “Just tell people that you do.”

Farhad's hole in the wall brick cafe is more like a labor of love. Located opposite Trishna, Mumbai's most famous seafood restaurant, and around the corner from a bright blue synagogue in the heart of Mumbai's historic Kala Ghoda art district, it's part café, part gallery.

The structure itself is an early-20th-century barn and has an impressive vaulted wooden ceiling. But its artsy refined air is what makes this modern, white café a welcome addition to the area.

getting there

Kala Ghoda Café, 10 Ropewalk Lane, Kala Ghoda, Fort
tel +91 (0) 22 2263 3866
www.kgcafe.in
Visit kgcafe.blogspot.com for future exhibitions and updates