Biography
Nurujuman Khan arrived at Heathrow from Bangladesh in the summer of 1957 and followed a cousin to Birmingham. He moved quickly within the trade: within a year of arriving he had co-owned restaurants in Wolverhampton and Worcester before returning to Birmingham to build a longer-term presence in the city.
He then trained in silver service at The Plough in Monkspath, Solihull — an unusually formal professional step for that era — before becoming manager for owner Abdul Samad at the Bombay Restaurant in Essex Street. Together, Khan and Samad introduced a hot-food trolley and developed new dishes, including "chicken mossman" — bhuna chicken topped with sliced egg — that helped define the restaurant's reputation.
Khan's recollections are especially valuable on the question of who Birmingham's early curry customers were. Many were former colonial "expats" who had served in India and already had a taste for this food; others were entirely unfamiliar with it and needed to be gently coached through the menu. His testimony captures the precise moment when Birmingham diners were still learning how to "go out for a curry" — and when restaurateurs like Khan were actively teaching them.
Abdul Samad's biography beyond his ownership of the Bombay Restaurant has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed. Khan's account was recorded as part of the BBC's coverage of the "Knights of the Raj" heritage project (2016–18) at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.