The Leopold Cafe and Bar is a restaurant and bar
/ref> on

Colaba Causeway Colaba Causeway, officially known as Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, is a commercial street, and a major causeway or land link between Colaba and the Old Woman's Island in the city of Mumbai, India. It lies close to the Fort area, and to the east of C ...

, in

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbh ...

area of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, India, located across from the

Police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

. It was the location of one of the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, ...

as it was one of the first sites attacked.

History

It was founded in 1871 by Iranis (a term used for Zoroastrians in Mumbai who arrived in India in 19th century, as opposed to "

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim con ...

s") 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 café Irani cafés are Iranian-style cafés in the Indian subcontinent. They were originally opened by Zoroastrian Irani immigrants to British India in the 19th century, fleeing Safavid persecution or looking for better economic prospects. In India, M ...

s. It first 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"). Prior to the terrorist attack, it was particularly known as a popular hangout for foreign tourists. After the attack, it is also 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, whereas at the

Taj Taj may refer to: Buildings *Taj Mahal, a medieval mausoleum in the Indian city of Agra *Taj Palace, an Abbasid palace in medieval Baghdad *Taj-ul-Masajid, mosque in Bhopal * Taj building, Nowshera, Pakistan *Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, inte ...

and Trident, the damage from the attacks has been repaired. It uses an

Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton The Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton (in Persian:"تکوک شیر غران") is an ancient artifact related to Achaemenians. A rhyton is a kind of vessel which normally terminates in the shape of an animal's head or horns. These vessels were common ...

as a part of its logo to indicate its Zoroastrian affiliation. It is one of a couple of Irani Cafes that are still doing good business, while many others are fading away.

2008 Mumbai attacks

The cafe was an early site of gunfire and grenade explosions during the

by terrorists on 26 November, at about 9:30 PM. The terrorists, approximately an hour after landing, sprayed fire inside the restaurant from outside killing 10 people and injuring many others. The restaurant was extensively damaged during the attacks. There were blood stains on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers.

Sourav Mishra Sourav Mishra ( or, ସୌରଭ ମିଶ୍ର (saurabh mishra), born 1 July 1979) is an Indian journalist and artist. As a Reuters journalist he was one of the first witnesses and victim of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a three-day rampage in whi ...

, a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

reporter and one of the first media witnesses of the attack, suffered severe bullet injuries. After spending one and half minutes at the Leopold Cafe, the terrorists walked over to

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel in the Colaba area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Saracenic Revival style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has histor ...

, the main target. The cafe defiantly reopened four days after the attack, but was reclosed on the recommendation of the police as a safety measure after two hours, due to the unexpectedly large size of crowds gathering there.

In popular culture

The cafe was also mentioned extensively in the novel '' Shantaram'' and its sequel ''

The Mountain Shadow ''The Mountain Shadow'' is a 2015 novel by Australian author Gregory David Roberts and is a sequel for his 2003 novel '' Shantaram''. Grove Press initially released the book on October 13, 2015. This is the second book in the proposed trilogy. ...

''. Shantaram is about an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from jail and flees to Bombay, as Mumbai was formerly called. Of all the very typical "Bombay" things and places mentioned in the book is the Leopold Café. The novel was the reason many patrons returned after the attack. Tourists back at Leopold with Shantaram, Azera Rahman, IANS, Mumbai, Dec 11, 2008
/ref>

References

External links

*
Map showing cafe location

IraniChai, Mumbai history project
{{Portal bar , Food Coffeehouses and cafés in India Restaurants in Mumbai Restaurants established in 1871 Indian companies established in 1871 2008 Mumbai attacks 1871 establishments in India

History

2008 Mumbai attacks

In popular culture

See also

References

External links