​Glasgow/IBNS: The inventor of chicken tikka masala, the curry that rules the taste buds of Britons, passed away on Monday at the age of 77.

​Ali Ahmad Aslam, who was popularly known as "Mr Ali", moved to Scotland from Pakistan. He is believed to have created the popular dish. 

He founded the Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow's West end in 1964.

His death was announced by his Shish Mahal restaurant which closed for 48 hours as a mark of respect, BBC reported.

In a Facebook post, the eatery announced: “Hey, Shish Snobs … Mr Ali passed away this morning … We are all absolutely devastated and heartbroken.”

Ali Ahmad's funeral was held at Glasgow Central Mosque on Tuesday.

He, reportedly, invented the dish by improvising a sauce made from a tin of tomato soup at his restaurant Shish Mahal in the 1970s.

"We thought we'd better cook the chicken with some sauce. So from here, we cooked chicken tikka with a sauce that contains yogurt, cream, and spices," Ali had told AFP in an interview.

Surveys have often found chicken tikka masala to be Britain's favourite curry, although chicken korma has also tried to claim that mantle, according to BBC.