Royal Bombay Yacht Club - FT.com Where Gateway of India, Mumbai WiFi Yes, in the lounge Plug sockets Yes Price of an espresso Rs30 ($0.50) Open 7.30am-11pm When people still travelled by sea, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club would have been one of the first buildings visitors spotted when arriving in India. Today, the waterfront venue remains popular with a local crowd that prefer old-world charm to the westernised glitz that has over-run this city. Clients from abroad, unfamiliar with the quirks of India's gymkhanas, are easily charmed by this colonial relic with its high ceilings and geometric tiled floors, along with a strict dress code and facilities that include sailing, a library and a billiards room. The private club is the ideal place to meet clients given its location beside the popular Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The lounge, where wooden fans whirr overhead and staff in mock naval uniforms amble in and out, is rarely busy. Thanks to a ban on mobile phones, the dining room is the perfect place to secure a client's undivided attention. It offers uncomplicated Indian and Chinese fare, or dishes so traditionally British they have not been served outside an Oxbridge college in decades. A full meal with drinks will set you back just Rs750 ($12) per person. That is, of course, subsidised by a hefty lifetime membership fee of Rs1.2m ($19,500), excluding taxes. Members from other clubs around the world can visit on a reciprocal basis, including The East India Club in London and yacht clubs everywhere from Monaco to Hong Kong.