In 2012, when Jeremie Horowitz launched Lower Parel's Cafe Zoe on the lines of a relaxed European brasserie, it was common to get requests from patrons to play Bollywood chartbusters. It has now reduced to a trickle, owing to the growing realisation that no Bollywood soundtrack will ever play out of this outpost. "Each time, I would have to politely decline, not because I don't like Hindi music but it's not in our DNA. It's for the same reason that we don't serve Indian dishes. The music, too, needs to reflect who we are," says Horowitz about the sky-lit restaurant that is as popular for soulful jazz music as it is for the rosemary potato wedges.

Not an afterthought
Horowitz belongs to the growing cadre of musically-inclined restaurateurs who curate their playlists with the same seriousness as they do their menu. For the 38-year-old, it comes from being raised in a Belgian household where music dominated dinner table conversations. His father, Isi Horowitz, is a lover of Western classical music, and that's where he picked it from. No wonder then, that if you walk into Cafe Zoe for breakfast after 7.30 am, you'll be treated to the magic of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach and Richard Wagner. As the day progresses, the music transitions in to light jazz over lunch, and, house and slow tempo by night.