Living in Mumbai without having tried out the bun-maska or the brun-maska at an Irani restaurant would be sad thing indeed and if you’re living in SOBO it would be blasphemy. The fast disappearing Irani restaurant which has literally struggled to survive in the face of soaring property costs; changing demands and operational hassles, still offers their specialities, each one competing with the others and with other restaurants in the area, to preserve image and identity..

The legendary bastani has downed its shutters, but Kayani is around, as is sassanian. And Yazdani at Fort still promises that if you eat its bread, you will have only sons. Confortingly, in Ballard estate’s Britannia, famous for its berry pulao, Boman Kohinoor still displays his pet cockerel on the pay counter. The regulars keep coming but “With rising costs and manpower crisis it’s difficult to survive,” says Boman.