This cafe in Mumbai by Ether & Sol Design House brings a slice of Catalonia to India

It’s 5 PM on a Thursday when I find myself stepping into this café in Mumbai, wondering if I’ve arrived a little too early. The soft, golden light streaming through the windows feels like the beginning of something wonderful. As time unfolds, I realise that I’ve been caught in a spell—hours slipping by unnoticed until the sky begins to blush with the hues of sunset.

Some restaurants feed your appetite, others feed your soul. Brunch & Cake, the Barcelona-born café, designed by Pavithra Datta and Nihar Bandaru of Ether & Sol Design House, is the latter—a whimsical waltz between food and design. With its arrival in Mumbai, the café brings a slice of Catalonia to India’s bustling cityscape, where the Mediterranean meets Mumbai’s midnight musings.

The colours here don’t shout. Instead, they murmur, coaxing one to lean in. White, beige and brown form the café’s foundation, a soothing melody that lets the green of a fiberglass olive tree take center stage. Anchoring the space, the tree doesn’t just stand—it presides, its branches whispering stories of Mediterranean landscapes, sun-drenched courtyards, and lazy afternoons.

The interplay of these tones evokes a calm, timeless quality, but there’s something alive about the hues here—something that makes you want to linger. The space feels like a secret you’ve stumbled upon, yet one you want to share.

Softly curved wooden tables sit alongside rattan chairs that could have been plucked from a beachside bungalow. It’s an assembly of pieces that feels carefully unstudied, as if each item has been collected over time, imbued with its own quiet story.

Lighting is often an afterthought in many spaces, but here, it’s poetry. Woven pendant lamps hang like celestial orbs, casting patterns across the muted walls. By day, natural light filters through the wide windows, bouncing playfully off the pale surfaces like a painter’s brushstroke. By night, the glow softens, wrapping the space in a golden embrace that feels both intimate and celebratory.

The room seems to change with the light—mornings are breezy and cheerful, while evenings are warm and inviting, as if the space itself knows how to shift its mood with the hour.

Some temptations are placed squarely in your path, and the dessert case at Brunch & Cake is one of them. Perched by the entrance like a siren of sugar, it showcases cakes that look more like sculptures.

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In a corner of the café stands what appears to be an ordinary bookshelf. It slides open to a speakeasy-style nook that feels straight out of a Wes Anderson film.

Mirrors line the walls, a disco ball spins with a flick of a clam-shaped bell, and the entire space feels delightfully offbeat. It’s part hideaway, part theatrical whimsy—exactly the kind of place where you’d sip a cocktail and feel like you’re in on a delicious secret.

Amidst the polished aesthetic, the heart of the café beats loud and proud: the stone pizza oven. Dome-shaped and rustic, it looks like an igloo on holiday, standing as a monument to the café’s culinary craft.

Some places are fleeting; others stay with you long after you’ve left. Brunch & Cake is the latter—a space that feels like a chapter in your own story, waiting to be read and reread, savored bite by bite.

FACT FILE:

Project Name: Brunch & Cake

Firm Name: Ether & Sol Design House

Location: Mumbai

Principal Designer: Pavithra Datta and Nihar Bandaru