Firstpost ·
Lifestyle and human interest
Mumbai's iconic cafe Mondegar loses licence over food safety lapses
Mumbai's century-old Colaba landmark has had its licence suspended after FDA inspectors found temperature, thawing and sanitation failures, part of a wider festival-season crackdown by commissioner Tukaram Mundhe's team.
Cafe Mondegar, one of Mumbai's oldest and most recognisable eateries, has had its operating licence suspended by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after inspectors found a string of food safety and hygiene violations at the Colaba landmark.
The action was carried out under FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, whose team has stepped up inspections of restaurants, hotels, dairies and sweet shops across the state during the ongoing Ganesh Utsav festive season.
According to the FDA, the inspection took place on 12 September 2026. Officials found that hot food items were not being kept above the required temperature of 60°C, while cold storage units were not maintaining the mandatory limit of below 5°C.
Inspectors also flagged improper thawing methods and a failure to cool cooked food quickly enough — both of which raise the risk of bacterial growth. The equipment used in food preparation was found to be poorly cleaned and sanitised.
Beyond the kitchen, the FDA pointed to structural issues, including moisture damage to the flooring and inadequate drainage near the food preparation area, conditions officials said increased the risk of cross-contamination.
The suspension will remain in place until the café addresses the violations and complies with the requirements set out under Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Cafe Mondegar was not the only establishment caught up in the drive. The FDA also suspended the licences of Maharashtra Biryani Centre in Kandivali, Tribhuvan Dairy Farm in Ghatkopar West, and Mahavir Cashew and Foods Pvt Ltd in Ghatkopar East, all for similar hygiene lapses.
Cafe Mondegar, affectionately known to regulars as "Mondy's," opened its doors on 1 April 1932 in the Metro House building on what is now Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, along the Colaba Causeway. It began life as an Irani café, part of a wave of modest refreshment rooms set up across Mumbai by Iranian Zoroastrian settlers in the early twentieth century, many of which served simple food, tea and coffee to travellers and locals alike.
Sitting just a few hundred metres from the Gateway of India, and a short walk from the equally famous Leopold Cafe, Mondegar's location made it a natural stopping point for generations of tourists, students, writers and office workers passing through South Mumbai.
The café is best known today for its walls, which are covered floor to ceiling in cartoon murals by the celebrated Goa-born artist Mario Miranda. The murals capture scenes of everyday Mumbai life, its crowded streets, commuters, lovers and policemen, rendered in Miranda's distinctive satirical style. Accounts differ on exactly when the artwork was commissioned, with some placing it in the 1970s and others tying it to a broader refurbishment of the café in the 1990s, but the murals have since become inseparable from the café's identity. Miranda died in 2011, and the artwork has been left largely untouched since.
Mondegar is also one of the first Mumbai eateries to install a jukebox, along with draught beer on tap, features that helped cement its reputation as a gathering spot for musicians, journalists and creative types over the decades. The jukebox remains in use today, one of the few still functioning in the city.
Owned by the Yazdegardi family, the café has survived nearly a century of change in the neighbourhood around it, including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that struck the nearby Leopold Cafe and Taj Mahal Palace hotel. It continues to draw a mix of long-time local patrons and first-time tourists, many of whom come as much for the murals and atmosphere as for the food.
The current licence suspension marks one of the more high-profile setbacks in the café's long history, and comes as the FDA's festival-season crackdown continues to widen across Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra.
