"It was a place where time stood still and you didn't want to come back," is how food chronicler and blogger Sameer Malkani describes Gallops, Mumbai's iconic restaurant that stands on the Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
The oldest restaurant on the property, it cocoons its diners from the pandemonium of the two roads that sandwich the racecourse – Dr E Moses Road and Lala Lajpatrai Marg.
The Bombay High Court recently directed for sealing of the eatery after its promoters flouted legal orders, including one passed by the Supreme Court to pay failed to pay the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) dues worth Rs 18 crore.
A regular haunt of south Mumbai's ladies-who-lunch, power brokers with racing hobbies, long-staying expats and morning walkers, most were drawn to the country club of stone exteriors, white picket fences and British pub interiors.
"It completed the experience of going to the racecourse," says senior journalist Abde Mannan Yusuf "It was like the pubs in Covent Garden and central London. Recently, I went to an old country club in Edinburgh (Scotland) and I felt I was in Gallops."
To the early frequent fliers of the city, it was one of the few places, outside five-star hotels, that served authentic continental food.
"It was always a destination restaurant where you booked a table in advance," says Malkani. "When my maternal uncle would come down from Denmark, it was a family ritual to go there for a sumptuous spread of simple pineapple-cherry-cheese skewers, French onion soup and continental mains."
Those who marked their mornings and evenings with rounds of the racecourse ended their exertions with a tea-and-eggs ritual in its open space. "There was never a time when the food was below par," says theatre personality Sabira Merchant, "The surroundings were lovely, the parking was ample and there was plenty of open air. We don't have many areas this side of south Mumbai that can boast of an interior and an exterior dining area like Gallops does. We hope their troubles get over soon."