"To me, as a Parsi, hospitality is part of who we are, and food is integral to our culture. We are the most inclusive and welcoming of communities; greeting those who cross our thresholds with food, drink and conviviality is an instinct,” says Bangalore-based Phirooza (popularly addressed as Fia) Rustumji. "It’s been a long cherished dream of mine to open a chef-led restaurant where our cuisine could be celebrated as it should… and also be a tribute to the country we call home, and its people,” she says about Fia’s Lounge that she opened in August 2021 in the erstwhile Garden City. "There was an opportunity… one I knew I could address,” says the self-taught chef. Out of the 70 different categories at Bangalore’s Restaurant Awards 2024, the Lounge was awarded the Best Chef-Led Restaurant of the Year on May 1, 2024.
Top and inset: Phirooza Rustumji at Fia’s Lounge offering a"relaxed ambience”
The 4,000 sq ft eatery on Richmond Road, a neighborhood with a high volume of pedestrian traffic and a sought-after residential and business location, seats 150 diners. "The menu runs the gamut of our culinary heritage” and includes jardaloo gosh, sali boti, dhansak and patra ni machhi. Parsi dishes appear in all three menus at the Lounge — vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian. Interesting takes on Parsi fare include methia nu chicken, sali mushroom kabab and kolmi na farcha, among others. "No one rises from the table without sampling our renditions of lagan nu custard and ravo.” (Signature dishes in the non-vegetarian menu range from Rs 525-900.) Daughters Zenea and Sahar are patisserie chefs at Fia’s. "More than 90% diners come here for the Parsi food,” she states.
The Lounge’s interiors are a synthesis of casual Euro chic and the warmth of a Parsi home. A carved marble-top table with a photo of the Prophet and a lit divo stands at the entrance. In one area, there is highly polished wooden furniture while in another, it is all pristine white. The wooden chairs have been replicated from those in Rustumji’s home. An antique cash counter is her pride and joy, as are the blue pottery and large windows looking out on some greenery and the passing traffic. The wall décor is a mix of curated pieces and carefully selected artefacts. "Everything has a story,” she says, pointing to mixed media works depicting a vintage car and bike that she bought off a struggling artist. The ceiling lamp shades made from paper and wax are the creation of a friend, Phirooza tells us.
The décor reflects Bangalore’s relaxed and sophisticated spirit, she says. "I’ve often been told that it looks like an extension of my home which, I must admit, influenced what I set out to create… I called it a Lounge to emphasize its relaxed ambience, a place where people could come to savor Parsi cuisine certainly, but where they could also sit at the big picture window, nibble a bhakra or batasa and watch the world go by on a lazy afternoon, or sip a mimosa on a Friday evening.”
Fia’s has also become the place where families get together at festival time, "the uptown smart set brings in New Year… Gourmet societies host their periodic feasts, and expatriates drop in for an experience at once exotic and familiar,” says Phirooza, reeling off names of Bangalore celebrities who are regular patrons. "For them, and everyone else, the decor says: ‘Welcome, you’re home.’”
Above l: a nook at the Lounge; top, r: wall art "with a story”
Rustumji plating her signature beetroot sirko salad
Eedu with Mumma
Phirooza grew up in a home where Parsi food was cooked, enjoyed and shared. "I cooked my first eedu with my mother Zarin Sanjana and her sister, my Coomi masi, then moved on to master Parsi cooking’s flavors and textures, recipes and seasonings… My later training and experience in hospitality helped me make the most of what I’d learnt.”
Telling Parsiana that she comes from the school of hard knocks, she takes us through her checkered career which includes selling Parsi food from a Bombay footpath, chocolate and candle making and cooking for her own wedding. The chef-entrepreneur responded to Parsiana’s questions via email, followed up with a Zoom call from the Lounge where we could see firsthand the layout and the décor in the dining area and kitchen. "You can fry an egg on my kitchen floor… Being a Parsi I am paranoid about cleanliness,” she comments, during the call. The recent award, while gratifying, also provides further motivation to ensure Parsi cuisine continues to prevail and delight, she remarks.
The 65-year-old started her career in 1977 with a five-year stint at late actor Amjad Khan’s Top Kapi restaurant in Bangalore. "That meant working shoulder-to-shoulder with the staff as well as interfacing with a discriminating clientele, an experience that’s stood me in great stead… I had the privilege of working with the well-known restaurateur Amar Lulla, Amjad Khan’s partner in Top Kapi… My debt to him and what he taught me is immeasurable.”
Part of Phirooza’s journey is a sidewalk stall in Bombay’s Juhu Koliwada, which she ran while holding another job in the hospitality industry when she was low on finances in the 1980s. "I cooked and served the Parsi dishes I knew and loved to passersby: a simple, direct, grounding experience… Having one’s finger on a great city’s pulse gave me a fresh perspective on feeding fellow beings.” A one-time chocolatier, she says that "demanded a very particular focus, zeroing in on the tiniest detail… As any chocolatier will tell you, the raw material is the most unforgiving of all, yet gives you the most rewarding results if handled with the right, light touch.”
Other work experiences were with the Taj West End in Bangalore where she curated a collection of large candles between two and eight feet tall; yet another with Taj’s restaurateur and author Camellia Panjabi involved designing a collection of wooden jewelry for the hotel chain’s in-house boutique Khazana. "My years in hospitality management taught me how to create a welcoming atmosphere, manage resources efficiently and anticipate the needs and preferences of a diverse clientele.”
Other food experiences include setting up of a banquet table for the sixth president of Singapore, S. J. Nathan, on his visit to Bangalore. "The most personal and meaningful of instances was when, along with caterer Bomi Patel, I cooked the dinner for my own wedding in 1996, with the fish being flown in especially from Bombay, a very special memory.”
Future plans at Fia’s include expanding the menu with the introduction of a Sunday Parsi breakfast and adding to a range of dishes other than Parsi. A line of Parsi masalas and seasonings, curated and only sold in-house, is also on the cards.
Above, from l, Noshir, Phirooza, Zenea, Rocshana and Sahar Rustumji
Only wine
The chef states that "there has been an explosion of restaurants, notably in the central business district of Bangalore where Fia’s is located. "This has been a response to the increase in disposable incomes and the flourishing of a big city phenomenon.” She says that the diversity of offerings has several memorable options. The quality though, isn’t always consistent, she bemoans. "Being trend-driven, the new Bangalore breed of restaurateurs looks mostly westward and eastward for direction. While there are attempts to purvey Parsi cooking, she says "Fia’s stands alone not just for its genuineness and originality, but also because my emphasis has been on the food, not the alcohol.” The Lounge serves only wine. "Most so-called non-vegetarian establishments, both longstanding and new entrants, tend to be watering holes, focusing on their beverage menus as much as on their food… I’ve always catered to people who, while they might like to drink when they eat out, will come for the food.”
Giving credit to her 12-member core team, she says: "You’re only as good as the people who shoulder the wheel with you, and I’ve been blessed with a fiercely loyal team who revel in what they do.”
Married to Noshir Rustumji, proprietor of a property development company, their eldest daughter Rocshana runs her own realty company. Describing Noshir and herself as reformists, the entrepreneur states, "Were we to adhere to orthodoxy, our daughters would have remained unmarried which is unacceptable… Orthodoxy coupled with the hypocrisy of the majority, including some in the clergy, would exclude our girls and their children from following the faith and entering its places of worship.” Of the three Rustumji daughters, two have interfaith partners.
About dakhmenashini, she says, "What was deemed an appropriate method in previous generations is no longer so. Carrion birds are almost extinct in any city you can name and to leave loved ones’ remains to the mercy of the elements is unthinkable, not to mention a complete negation of all that those loved ones mean to us.” She is firm that "in my family, we will opt for burial.”
Convinced that "constructive dialog and action are the way forward,” Phirooza says she honors Zoroastrianism’s core values. "While I firmly believe in our traditions based on personal experiences and values, I acknowledge the importance of adaptability and progressiveness… This is as crucial as being aware of the richness and nuance of the wisdom handed down to us.”
She further adds, "our mission isn’t to merely nurture a restaurant business, but to build a legacy to be nurtured by the next generation… I want to continue to do all I can to propagate our cuisine… while further amplifying the profile of the woman chef-entrepreneur… If I can set a precedent for other women to follow, preferably with the cuisines of their own heritage, then mine would be a job well done.”
Fia’s Lounge is located at G1-G5, Richmond Towers, 12, Richmond Rd, Bangalore 560025.