Mumbai Travel Forum

There was a Pyrke's hotel in Mumbai many years ago (which was infamous for having a sign reading "no dogs,no Indians"), and I believe there is (or was until quite recently) a well-known restaurant called Pyrkes.

Does anyone in Mumbai know of these places? I am researching the Pyrke family, and I believe these places may have been founded by ancestors of mine.

If anyone knows anything of these plafes, would you be so kind as to contact me: gategarden@hotmail.com.

Many thanks.

MG

Pyrkes was a restaurant just opposite the Flora Fountain at Fort which was very famous for some good Parsi food as far as I remember and later on it closed down and was shut for quite a few years before it was bought over and changed to a bank office since a long time now. Don't know whether the sign was there or not, never heard of it being there. There was a sign outside another hotel during the British times when the founder of the TATA group was denied entry to one such hotel which was called Watson's Hotel which was the first prefabricated cast iron building built in India with all the structural parts brought from Britain and assembled in Mumbai just opposite the Bombay University building. It still stands in a almost run down condition with most of the balconies fallen off and the hotel building now houses only offices of lawyers working in the Bombay High Court and City Civil & Sessions Court next to it!!! After being denied entry to this hotel since he was an Indian, Jamshedji Tata built in those times what is now still one of the best hotels in India ..... the Taj Mahal Palace!!! Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Aadil.

Hi,

I lived in Mumbai until 1974. I worked at Hutatma Chowk? (then known as Flora Fountain) from 1969 until 1971.

I have spent many hours at the Pyrke's restaurant at the circle, sipping "English Tea".

The restaurant was famous for tea of course, plus there were private booths with doors for the romantically inclined. The food was reasonable and the prices were slightly upscale, which served to keep the budget-conscious crowd away.

To the family which ran the restaurant - Thank you for the memories

Jethanand