Bandra-based singer-songwriter Shayan Italia is no gastronomic prodigy — he doesn’t step into the kitchen, doesn’t experiment with food and often eats boiled vegetables delivered by a neighbourhood restaurant for a quick meal. But a few years ago, he decided to experiment with India’s beloved rice dish, the biryani, on a lark. After a year of R&D, come end-November, and Italia will begin taking orders for Biryani360, which he says is a healthy, gourmet version of the meal.

Biryani360, says Italia, is low on cholesterol — a 300 gm serving of the veg biryani has 599 calories and the non-veg (or the un-veg as he calls it) 699. The former, he adds, meets 18 per cent of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein (55 gm protein on an average) and the chicken biryani meets 50 per cent of the same requirement. Both biryanis provide more than 25 per cent of the daily calcium needs.