We first stumbled upon Francis on a searingly bright day in Fort Kochi, after hours of gallery hopping. (Well, gallery and boutique hopping, if I am being totally honest.)
Thanks to the buzz created by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which ran from December 2022 to April this year, Fort Kochi was chaotic with tourists. In this frenzy of over-hyped cafés, restaurants and bars, featuring overwhelmed staff, hour-long queues and flocks of selfie-taking influencers, Francis was an oasis of calm.
Despite being set in a 300-year-old Dutch building, rich in character, the sign outside, fashioned like a haiku, makes minimal promises: ‘Beer. Wine. Retro.’
