It takes more desire than imagination to stand atop one of the embankments on Marine Drive - with the wind your hair, gazing far into the coruscating stretch that is the Queen's Necklace - and say, "This is a lot like New York." The American city of convergence has in fact, for long been a blueprint for this city, whether it's the town-to-suburbs is equal to Manhattan-to-Brooklyn argument, or the choice of nomenclature, where SoHo (or South Houston) comfortably fits into a desi pastiche to become SoBo.

Likewise, with food, too, the influence and buzzing culture of New York at large, and SoHo particularly, has served as an inspiration for long. Concepts like pop-ups, supper clubs and chef collaboration meals, all trickling down in a steady stream to Mumbai. It's apparent in the frequency with which so many chefs and restaurateurs here resort to the phrase, "When I was in New York," while explaining the inspiration behind more than one thing. It is then bound to both sting and surprise to know that chef and Bandra boy Floyd Cardoz's famed The Bombay Bread Bar in SoHo will alas be shutting down this September.