Mocambo Restaurant – Kolkata, West Bengal

Mocambo opened its doors in 1956 as an European oasis of glamour and jazz on Park Street, Calcutta’s famous cabaret row. Its second-generation owner, Nitin Kothari, called it independent India’s first nightclub, which is plausible, even if impossible to verify. There was a German architect, an Italian manager and, soon after its opening, a 17-year-old chanteuse named Pam Crain, who wore a French evening gown and sang standards with Anton Menezes’ six-piece band. Mocambo is still an odd jumble of Europeanisms: a mural of faux Degas ballerinas, red vinyl banquettes, red silk lampshades hanging like upside-down tulips, cigarette smoke rising…