Facts About Mumbai’s Biryani King Jaffer Bhai, Who Died of COVID

The man who gave Mumbai its delish biryani succumbs to COVID-19.

Mumbai's Biryani king succumbs to COVID-19.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

If you're someone who loves a good biryani and are from Mumbai, you must have heard of Jaffer Bhai's Delhi Durbar. Jaffer Bhai, the man who introduced the most delicious biryani to the Mumbai food scene, passed away on 11 September due to a cardiac arrest while fighting COVID-19. He had not been keeping well for a month and was admitted in Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital. He developed COVID-19 symptoms a week ago.

Many said his Bombay Biryani could put all biryanis to shame, including the Hyderabadi biryani.

Moin Jaffer's grandfather and father had been serving tasty biryani since years, when Jaffer's father came up with the idea of starting a restaurant. In 1973, he opened the first restaurant in Grant Road. Today, Jaffer Bhai's restaurant has ten outlets all over Mumbai. Jaffer Bhai also had a restaurant in Dubai, which was taken over by his uncle when his father and uncle went their separate ways.

"Those days religious preachers and politicians threw parties and ordered affordable food from Jaffer Bhai’s outlet. He would deliver the orders on a rickety old bicycle".

Jaffer Bhai’s old friend told TOI

His motto to get the customer back to his restaurant was not the delectable biryani he served but a warm welcome and a goodbye.

Some of the other bestselling dishes here include the tandoori chicken, tawa specialities and barbecue items. An interesting fact is that Jaffer Bhai didn't rely on any hand-written recipes. He believed that any recipe is perfected by practice.

He also didn't believe in serving frozen chicken. The restaurants are known to source fresh, locally sourced chicken. According to a report in Khaleej Times, the head chef of Jaffer Bhai's Delhi Durbar was been trained by Jaffer Mansuri himself for years together.