- K Rustom & Co, Mumbai's oldest ice cream parlour, was shut by Maharashtra FDA this week
- The FDA cited rodent infestation and expired flavouring agents during a surprise inspection
- Founded in 1953 by Iranian immigrant Khodabux Rustom Irani near Churchgate and Marine Drive
Mumbai's K Rustom & Co, widely regarded as the city's oldest ice cream parlour and a Churchgate institution for over seven decades, has been forced shut this week after the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended its licence over alleged hygiene violations.
The violations included rodent infestation and expired flavouring agents, putting fresh scrutiny on a business long celebrated as one of Mumbai's most cherished culinary landmarks.
The 1953 Beginning
K Rustom & Co traces its roots to 1953, when it was founded by Khodabux Rustom Irani, an Iranian immigrant fondly remembered as K Rustom, who had a passion for creating delectable ice cream.
According to travel platform Slurrp, the outlet, tucked near Churchgate and Marine Drive, has since become widely regarded as one of the top ice cream destinations globally, having featured on a TasteAtlas ranking of the world's best ice cream spots.
From Loose Scoops To A Signature Sandwich
The shop did not start out with its now-famous format.
Food blog LBB notes that the business began with K Rustom and his family selling ice cream on glass and porcelain plates to tourists and families visiting Marine Drive, before evolving, after repeated loss of crockery, into the wafer-sandwiched ice cream slab it is best known for today.
That deceptively simple format, a thick block of ice cream pressed between two crisp wafer biscuits and wrapped in butter paper, became the parlour's calling card, with flavours like kesar pista and walnut crunch layered with real nuts and caramelised sugar.
Why It Became A Mumbai Institution
The parlour's endurance rests on a commitment to traditional, in-house methods using locally sourced ingredients, according to Slurrp, alongside a stubborn refusal to franchise or scale up.
That resistance to expansion, as recounted by entrepreneur Jehan Mehta to YourStory, is what eventually pushed him to launch his own wafer-sandwich brand, Tandy's Creamery, in 2019, after K Rustom's turned down his franchise proposal.
The original outlet remains family-owned to this day, still run, by several accounts, by descendants of its founder.
A Legal Scare In 2022
The parlour's continuity was briefly threatened in May 2022, when it faced eviction from its Churchgate premises over a 1996 rent dispute filed by the Cricket Club of India, per Slurrp. The order was subsequently overturned, allowing the shop to continue operating.
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The Current Controversy
That legacy now faces fresh scrutiny after the Maharashtra FDA suspended the outlet's licence this week, citing rodent infestation, unhygienic conditions and the use of expired flavouring agents during a surprise inspection under the "Safe Food, Safe Maharashtra" drive.
Reports have also flagged sightings of houseflies on the premises. The shop remains shut pending laboratory reports on seized samples.
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