UAE's Hidden Gems: Dubai-based restaurant where Biryani meets Bollywood

Photos by M.Sajjad/Khaleej Times

Dubai - The interesting part is that the founders of this Bollywood-themed restaurant are Pakistani expatriates.

By Saman Haziq

Published: Thu 3 Dec 2020, 10:28 PM

To what extent can a fan go to show his love for his idol? Plastering a room with movie posters and hoarding memorabilia now seemed so basic — because of this group of ardent admirers of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. They have opened a restaurant in Dubai in his name — called Bhaijaans Biryani (BB).

The interesting part is that the founders of this Bollywood-themed restaurant are Pakistani expatriates. They call themselves ‘diehard fans of Sallu bhai’ (as Salman Khan is fondly called).

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Located in the heart of Deira, a street away from the busy Union Metro station, this quirky restaurant creates the perfect movie vibe for Bollywood and biryani fans.

As soon you enter the 15-seater restaurant, everything from the décor to the cheeky menu screams ‘Salman Khan’. Walls are plastered with the actor’s cutouts with references to his movies and his famous dialogues.

The founders of the joint — Omar Farooq, Aneel Jacob and Adeel qaiser Abbasi — confessed that they were not only fond of the Bollywood actor but also loved Indian food and held their Indian brothers with great respect.

“The idea was to dedicate this restaurant to our idol Salman Khan and also our love for biryani. In many ways, India and Pakistan share a common history, culture, cuisine and language. We wanted our restaurant to represent friendship between Indians and Pakistanis. Our head chef and many dishes are from India, like our pure Hyderabi biryani, also called kachche gosht ki biryani.”

While biryani is one of the most popular dish in South Asia and easily takes the flavor of whichever part of the world it is made in, BB’s unique selling point lies in the fresh ingredients: fresh mutton, chicken and vegetables along with best long-grain rice mixed with their secret home-made recipe of masalas.

Prices are reasonable, too. And what better name their dishes could have than Khan’s movie titles? Brace for some Sultan mutton biryani, Dabangg chicken biryani, Bajrangi vegetable biryani, Wanted chicken 65 biryani — plus, a complimentary sweet dish gulab jamun called Katrina (an actress who has worked in a number of films with Khan).

Even their multicultural staff have pseudo names based on the characters Salman Khan has played in his famous movies. “We work as a team and, in fact, it is fun as we call them with their character names.”

Less spicy biryani on Fridays

On Fridays, they serve special less spicy biryanis, made especially for their Arab clientele. “Since we have a lot of Arab customers, we make a special white biryani (shahi biryani) on Fridays which is very much loved by Emiratis,” Omar said.

Besides being fun and quirky, BB also has a charitable side. “Job-seekers who can’t afford to pay can enjoy the meal for free. Pay us in the form of love and blessings. We also have a notice board, where we put up job postings and other classified ads to help people who are looking for jobs or a place to stay,” Omar said.

Here are three things you won’t find anywhere else:

>A complete Salman Khan dining experience

>The cheapest aromatic karak chai at 50 fils

>Magic tricks for entertainment, courtesy of BB’s in-house magician Omar

saman@khaleejtimes.com