When The Odyssey team Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon and Tom Holland sipped chai at this iconic Bombay Irani café

WBiddy capital of washington coffee tree domiciliate and Stores opened at Colaba, a lapidate’s throw from the Taj Mahal Hotel built in 1903, Bombay was already a cosmopolitan port city bustling with Arabs, Portuguese, the English and the Chinese tradesmen.Olympia, founded by Iranian entrepreneur Syed Mohammed Merab, became part of a wave of Irani cafés that shaped Bombay’s social and culinary culture for the next century.ALSO READ | Tom Holland blown away by Indian fans at The Odyssey India premiere: ‘No one brings energy like you’Christopher Nolan's Mumbai pitstopWhoever in their India team booked Christopher Nolan and the Odyssey stars Matt Damon and Tom Holland’s meals, had clearly read up their Bombay history. On their 48-hour-long pitstop in Mumbai to promote their film, the A-listers stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel, had dinner at Trishna in Kala Ghoda, again unsurprisingly given its reputation for seafood. But it was the choice of Olympia where Nolan and team surprised the customers at the shabbily chic Irani cafe when they turned up in formal suits to order chai and bun maska.Photos of the high-profile visit made it to the international press, giving a shot in the arm to Irani cafes which have been struggling on account of dwindling clientele and eagle-eyed developers circling to swoop on their prime real estate. A café that served old BombayLike most of the city’s early Irani spots, Olympia doubled as a provision store where customers could pick up daily necessities like soap, matches and cigarettes while waiting for their beverage or meal. Because of its location, it became a regular haunt for a cross-section of Bombay, drawing in everyone from Colaba dockworkers, office clerks and local traders to passing travellers.ALSO READ | Ashish Chanchlani predicts The Odyssey will be ‘blockbuster’, calls it Matt Damon's show: ‘Not a single boring moment’Around the turn of the century, the name ‘Olympia’ carried real global prestige. It was painted across the hull of one of America’s largest naval warships, and travellers regularly boarded an ocean liner of the same name on the India-England run. Bombay had its own famous landmark by that name too—Olympia Theatre on Grant Road where on April 21, 1913, the country’s first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra, premiered.During this era, restaurants and coffee houses frequently adopted Greek or European names. Such names projected sophistication and modernity, appealing to both Indian and foreign patrons while evoking an experience comparable to that of European dining establishments.Rise of Bombay's café cultureThe café culture itself evolved from a much older tradition of coffee-drinking in Bombay. Stephen Meredith Edwardes (1873–1927), the British administrator who documented early Bombay life, described the city’s itinerant coffee vendors or kahwe-walas as a distinctive feature of Muslim neighbourhoods. Of Arab or Egyptian origin, these vendors carried portable stoves and kettles while announcing their arrival by rhythmically striking stacked coffee cups together.Nineteenth-century Bombay also had Muslim coffee houses frequented by Arabs, Persians and local Muslims, where Urdu was the principal language. Alongside them were European, particularly Italian, cafés that catered to Europeans and westernised Indian elites seeking European food without the social taboos surrounding dining.The First World War (1914–1918) reshaped India’s economy. As European industries shifted to wartime production, Indian manufacturers filled the gap. Industries flourished, employment increased, creating demand for restaurants, cafés and entertainment venues. Olympia benefited from this rapidly changing urban economy. A legacyAs Bombay’s commercial districts expanded into Fort, Colaba, Grant Road, and Byculla, refreshment rooms and restaurants became an essential part of city life. Directories published after 1935 show Olympia also operated a nearby branch in Abubakar Manzil, today known as Metro House. Records indicate it continued operating until at least 1946.In 1954, founder Syed Mohammed Merab sold Olympia to four trusted employees—Abdul Rahim Suleiman, Abdul Rahim Choudhary, Ghulam Rasool and Wali Mohammed—before returning to Iran. Their families have run the establishment for three generations, preserving much of its original identity. After independence, Olympia earned a reputation for affordable Mughlai cuisine, attracting a wider clientele. Today it remains best known for keema pav, bheja fry, mutton masala fry, dal gosht and brun maska, while retaining the informal atmosphere.