Indian Coffee House

Kolkata (Calcutta)


It’s fascinating to look inside this unpretentious high-ceilinged restaurant that was once a meeting place of alternative Kolkata. The cheap, dishwater coffee (₹20) can't be recommended, but it used to host freedom fighters in India's pre-Independence era, bohemians during Kolkata's literary, cultural and artistic heydays of the ’60s and ’70s, and revolutionaries owing allegiance to the Naxalite movement of the 1970s.

To get here, walk down College St to the Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art from Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Rd. After one block turn left, take the fourth doorway on the left and climb the stairs.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Kolkata (Calcutta) attractions

1. Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art

0.19 MILES

Priceless antique Indian sculptures, brasswork and terracotta objects of art are mundanely displayed along with a diverse array of collected treasures in…

2. Marble Palace

0.52 MILES

Built in 1835 by a raja from the prosperous Mallick family, this resplendent mansion is as grand as it is curious. Its marble-draped halls are overstuffed…

3. Nakhoda Mosque

0.55 MILES

Located amid the din and chaos of Rabindra Sarani, the 1926 red-sandstone Nakhoda Mosque rises impressively above the bustling shopfronts of its…

4. Nam Soon

0.56 MILES

This is Kolkata's oldest Chinese temple, an 1820s relic from the colonial period when thousands of Chinese migrants flocked to Kolkata to work on the…

5. Toong On Temple

0.6 MILES

Peep through the crack between the often-locked doors of this distinctive 1924 two-storey building to spy a meditative Buddha statue glowing in the half…

6. Tagore’s House

0.7 MILES

The stately 1784 family mansion of Rabindranath Tagore has become a shrine-like museum to India’s greatest modern poet. Even if his personal effects don’t…

7. Hind Perfumerie

0.76 MILES

This perfume-maker's shop conjures up images of the Raj era. It's an atmospheric place, although the perfumes can be of the strong concentrated variety…