Britannia & Co.

The Verdict

Britannia & Co. opened in 1923 in the Wakefield House on Sport Road in Ballard Estate and has been continuously operated by the Kohinoor family for over a century. The room is one of the most extraordinary preserved spaces in Mumbai — a Parsi-Iranian cafe with original tile floors, ceiling fans, photographs of Queen Elizabeth and the Iranian shahs on the walls, and a layout that has been essentially unchanged since the Second World War. The legendary Boman Kohinoor — son of the founder, who ran the cafe until his death in 2019 at the age of 97 — made the place a Mumbai institution.

The menu is short and has barely changed in fifty years. The signature is the berry pulao — a saffron-rice biryani built around imported Iranian zereshk berries that the family imports directly from Iran. There is a chicken version and a mutton version; both come with a yoghurt dip and a small mint chutney, and both are among the most photographed plates in Mumbai. Around the berry pulao the menu offers a small selection of Parsi classics: dhansak, sali boti, salli chicken, and the caramel custard that is the only dessert worth ordering.

Britannia is open for lunch only and operates first-come, first-served — there are no reservations, and the queue at the door from 12:30 most weekdays is part of the experience. The room itself is the reason most diners come. There is no wine list, no cocktails, no music — just the Kohinoor family's century-old cafe, the berry pulao, and the photographs on the walls. Eat here while the institution is still standing.

Why It Works for First Date

Britannia is one of Mumbai's most romantic first-date restaurants in an unconventional sense — the room itself is the date, and a couple who can share an afternoon at Britannia and find it charming will likely find each other charming. For solo dining, the cafe is one of the warmest single-cover environments in the city; for a birthday lunch with family or friends, no other Mumbai restaurant carries this much accumulated history.

Related Restaurants in Mumbai

For a comparable experience in another part of Mumbai, Ekaa in Fort offers a related take. For another chef-driven kitchen in the city, Papa's is well worth the table. For a different occasion fit, see Americano or Hosa. Browse the complete Mumbai guide for the full list, or filter by First Date across all cities.