Mumbai’s iconic Irani restaurant Sun Shine Restaurant, Bakery and Beer Bar shuts down next Monday,15 November after 100 years
Mumbai’s iconic Irani restaurant Sun Shine Restaurant, Bakery and Beer Bar shuts down next Monday,15 November after 100 years of dedicated service towards its customers.
Notably, the iconic Restaurant, Bakery and Beer Bar, which is a landmark at Thakurdwar, has been served notice to vacate owing to the dilapidated condition of the building.
When Shapur Phirozmand was a young boy, his father Rustom would pay him four annas and ten paise for sitting at the counter of their shop, Sun Shine Bakery at Thakurdwar. Back then, it had some of the best watermelon juice, custard, pudding, and cakes. He’d rush there after tuition classes and man the counter for a few hours. He’d pick up his earnings and head to Byramjee school a few blocks away to exercise. “It’s the fondest memory I have from my childhood,” says 75-year-old Phirozmand from his home in California, where he is currently residing, in an exclusive phone call to mid-day.
The Restaurant Bakery and Beer Bar was started by Phirozmand’s grandfather, Ardeshir following his return came from Iran. He ran it for a few years before handing it over to his son, when he was ged only 18 years old. Rustom ran it till he passed away in 2003. He wakes up daily at
4.30 am to open the restaurant by 5 am. Phirozmand had been living abroad, and wasn’t keen on running it until his mother insisted that he step in.
Sun Shine started as a bakery and the beer bar was added 40 years ago
The omelette pav, brun maska and mawa cake were very famous. At first, it was only a bakery and had marble tables. The beer bar was added 40 years ago.
During those days, the owners of Express Bakery which shut shop due to Metro construction two years ago, Kayani Bakery, Church Restaurant, Golden Star Restaurant, Darius Bakery and many other Irani restaurateurs and businessmen would come regularly to meet his father. They were all friends and spoke very fondly of their hometown in Iran. There was a lot of camaraderie,” recalls Phirozmand, who handed over the reins to his manager Ashok Shetty seven years ago.
Notably, one could smell the warm goodness of their bakery. As per Shetty they bake everything in-house.
With a deep sense of pride, Shetty affirms they also incurred loss. According to Malabar Hill resident Chef Devansh Jhaveri was a regular customer and would always stop by for bun maska and chai, or sometimes misal pav and take away mawa cake during his visit to Kalbadevi for his family’s steel business.
The 130-year-old building which houses Sun Shine is owned by N M Petit Charity Fund, which has served a notice to the tenants to vacate. Phirozmand and some other tenants have approached the Supreme Court over this. They expressed willingness to repair the building and had raised several points as well, but in vain. The lawyers will catch up with the trust next month to discuss the next course of action after we vacating the space.
Meanwhile, a saloon and an office next to Sun Shine have already wrapped up last week whereas Shetty plans to down the shutters on the century-old Iranian restaurant and bakery soon as he is left with no choice. Most of the staff have been working for almost 25-30 years and he has been here for 32 years. The notice is to vacate the space before November 30. We’ve been asked to go without any arrangements or compensation just like that.
Shetty isn’t sure what he would end up doing post-shutdown. what next, especially with the furniture, bakery equipment, crockery, utensils and other items of the eatery. It may possibly end up being sold at a scrap rate, to their loss. Siraj Irani, an Andheri resident, recalls the smell of fresh pav lingering in the lanes near it. As a landmark in Thakurdwar.
The restaurant catered to the Maharashtrian population of the area as much as the Parsi and Irani communities around.
Foodies and local alike will surely miss this iconic eatery that has seen better days.
News Input K.V.Raman
