Colaba Canteen

Colaba Canteen in Chandigarh is a nostalgic love letter to old Bombay a restaurant where space becomes story, and every surface recalls the romance of a bygone era. Steeped in the spirit of colonial Bombay’s Irani cafés and Parsi canteens, the interiors are a charming pastiche of British colonial design and vernacular ingenuity, rendered with a generous dose of wit and whimsy.
The space unfolds beneath a muted, stucco-finished ceiling that cradles a series of tiered Art Deco-
inspired pendant lights, casting a warm, amber-hued glow over the checkerboard terrazzo floor a
motif echoing the dining halls of old clubs and railway cafés. The palette is rich and warm: dusty
terracotta walls with olive dado panelling exude a timeworn patina, allowing the vintage curiosities
and sepia-toned portraits to nestle effortlessly into the mise-en-scène. Hand-turned wooden balustrades and lattice partitions define the volume with colonial grace, punctuated by a proud gramophone, wall-mounted clocks, and brass light sconces — each an object trouvé evoking the tactile charm of mid-century Bombay. Tables draped in red-and-white gingham checks add a delightful, almost cinematic kitsch, offsetting the formality of the solid dark timber chairs with carved backrests. This isn’t just a restaurant it’s a theatrical set, a memory lane dressed in period costume. Each architectural detail is an ode to an aesthetic that is both hybrid and harmonic where Indo-Saracenic finesse meets café nostalgia, and where the decadence of colonial Bombay is gently folded into Chandigarh’s contemporary fabric.