Nearly 100 Years Old, Britannia Is A Love Letter To Bombay’s Past

Set to turn a century-old, at Britannia & Co, vignettes from the city’s colonial past are closely woven into one Iranian family’s personal story. The result is a culinary fare that has delighted Bombay through the decades.

Britannia & Co (Source: Atlas Obscura)

A painting of Queen Elizabeth II and a photograph of Gandhi cling to a flaky coat of dusty green paint. Between them is an old colonial clock. Above this, Zarathustra, the Zoroastrian priest-turned-prophet, hangs in a gold-gilded frame. It’s a curious assortment, but these three portraits frame the nearly 100-year-old history of Britannia and Co — a Parsi eatery established in colonial-era Bombay.

Boman Kohinoor ran this restaurant for nearly 80 years. But it was his father, Rashid Kohinoor, an Iranian immigrant who first opened Britannia in 1923, the same year his son, Boman, was born. The Kohinoors were one of many Zoroastrian families who left Iran, most commonly to flee from religious persecution. As this community started to arrive in Bombay, small cafes, stalls, and bakeries also began popping up in the city’s neglected corners, making these Persian-style eateries closely tied to Bombay’s public life. Rashid, too, decided to open his own Irani eatery. When he set out to do this, he even found that his food and beverage licence was granted in just one day, save for one condition — his restaurant’s name had to sound British.

These days may be gone today, but Britannia’s rosily-clad colonial decor, its chipped-away paint, and a grand chandelier still remain untouched at the restaurant. When Rashid passed away, he left Britannia in the hands of Boman, who ran the place with the same Bentwood furniture imported by his father. In its early days, Britannia was known as a popular haunt among British officials who needed a break from India’s spicy cuisine. But when the days of the Raj ended, so did Britannia’s original continental menu.

In its place, Mughlai and Parsi dishes were brought in by Boman’s wife. Touting her personal, closely-guarded recipes, Boman’s cheerful dialogue — "try the Berry Pulao, it's my wife's recipe” — left customers wanting to come back to this family-run establishment time after time. Over the years, Britannia’s customers even included an air hostess who took 100 chapatis from the cafe each week. Another was a Singaporean who placed huge orders of sali boti, a Parsi slow-cooked meat curry, for over ten years. From personally visiting each table, taking down orders, and sharing stories from the past, Boman’s hospitality played no small role in continuing to pull crowds while sticking with their long-standing menu.

Today, Britannia’s clientele reflects Bombay’s heady mix of characters — travellers, writers, office-goers, and students — who love the old-world charm and budget-friendly options at Britannia. Inside, Boman’s memorabilia, which he collected throughout the years, includes a letter he received from Her Majesty’s office and an unexpected life-size standee of Prince William and Kate Middleton, whom he even met upon invitation during the royal pair’s visit in 2016.

In 2019, Boman passed away at the age of 97. But his love for the restaurant can still be felt today. Over time, these personal memories, just like Bombay’s unique past, have also become inseparable from Britannia’s walls. Upon them, three flags still hang today — Indian, British, and Zoroastrian — as love letters to the eatery’s prized heritage.