With every new Dishoom, we imagine an Irani café rooted in a different chapter of Bombay's history. We then write an accompanying story – a founding myth that guides every last detail of the space. Our Borough café is no different. With Shakespeare’s Globe a short walk away, we naturally began with Romeo and Juliet. Its legendary prologue takes sonnet form, as does every stanza of another cherished text: Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate. And so, crafting a sonnet of our own felt entirely fitting.

Set in 1950s Bombay, amid the clamour of Crawford Market, the tale follows two young lovers caught between rival families and faiths. As you glance about our Borough café, allow us to set the scene of two people who should never have looked at each other.

Rajan and Laila

Prologue

Two gang lords, consumed with bitterest hate
(In Crawford Market, where we lay our scene),
The day: Diwali, nineteen-fifty-eight:
Stallholders are threatened with acts obscene.
Feuding local lads exhort “protection”
In a clash for hafta ’twixt rival dons;
Two, born from their loins, form attraction,
Eyes meet and hearts beat o’er the cobblestones.
Alas, the fruit is doubly forbidden,
She’s a Muslim, his religion’s Hindu;
Star-crossed lovers, who, so sweetly smitten
Entwine their souls, stirring grudges anew.
A tale of sorrow, heartbreak and dismay
Now inspires our Dishoom Borough café.