Many viewers will likely miss it, but a tray of food presented to a convalescing Michael Jackson in the biopic Michael holds a key to the superstar’s foodie past.

The Antoine Fuqua-directed movie, which opened April 24 and stars Jaafar Jackson, grossed $97 million in North American theaters over its opening weekend with a global total of about $217 million, shattering records for a music biopic. The success has reignited curiosity about the star’s private world and his inner circle of confidants.

Michael Jackson’s Go-To Hollywood Restaurant

In the movie, Jackson’s security guard Bill Bray (played by KeiLyn Durrel Jones), presents the tray of food, noting it has “all your favorites,” and adds that it’s from the “Golden Temple.” That name harks back to the early 1980s when Jackson frequented Hollywood’s Golden Temple vegetarian restaurant. The location was one of a dozen nationwide staffed by members of the 3HO sect, which practiced kundalini yoga and meditation—founded by Yogi Bhajan in 1969.

Dressed in a white robe and turban, cook Mani Singh Khalsa regularly served Jackson at the eatery, starting in 1981.

“I was 22, living in Yogi Bhajan’s ashram, cooking at the Golden Temple,” said the chef in an interview; he now goes by the name Mani Niall. “Michael really liked our food; he came in on afternoons, but I was pretty unaware of popular culture even though I’d see Lily Tomlin or Demi Moore at the salad bar.”

It wouldn’t be long before Niall was plugged into the zeitgeist in extraordinary ways—while regularly chanting Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo to connect with universal consciousness, as instructed by Bhajan.

Golden Temple evening manager Gurmukh Khalsa—who would later teach yoga to Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Annette Bening and Courtney Love—suggested Niall deliver food to Jackson at the nearby Westlake Recording Studios. Niall dropped off an order, handing it to a staffer. Within a week, he got a call from Jackson himself.

“Hi, I’m Michael,” said Jackson, according to Niall, who recounted the rest of what Jackson said during the call: “Can you bring that same enchilada you made, and the Asian tofu mushroom salad, and some kind of dessert, but nothing chocolate; I don’t eat chocolate.”

Niall brought Jackson the order, and “this time, I met him,” Niall said. “From then on, he called and asked for me. I got super-comfortable with him.”

Chef Akasha Richmond cooked alongside Niall at the Golden Temple. The pair attended the Michael premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 20.

“We were kids, just really excited to have people like Michael Jackson come in,” said Richmond in an interview. “He was really sweet and was super fun.”

Jackson and other celebrities favored the Golden Temple for its “clean vegetarian food—a little elevated for the day,” said Richmond, who was Jackson’s chef during his first solo concert tour, Bad, and for the HIStory Tour, the artist’s final solo concert tour.

“In the movie, they really got the character of Bill Bray right,” Richmond said. “Bill was like a second father to Michael.”

Niall was struck by Jaafar Jackson’s turn playing his uber-famous uncle. “It felt like watching clips of Michael live,” he said. “His performance was a revelation.”

‘Michael’s Comfort Level With Me Kind of Kicked Up’

Within a month after Niall met Jackson, the star asked the cook for his home number. “He’d call and ask me to make the enchilada dish he liked, at his condo in Sherman Oaks. At the time, the Hayvenhurst family compound in Encino was being renovated.”

Alone with Niall after dinner one night, Jackson began to serenade him in his kitchen with the song, Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles, according to Niall. Jackson asked Niall if he liked the Beatles, and then said, “Paul’s going to be here on Thursday making a song with me (The Girl Is Mine, with Paul McCartney). He and Linda are vegetarians. Can you bring us lunch at the studio?” Niall related.

After that, “Michael’s comfort level with me kind of kicked up,” said Niall, who runs Mani’s Test Kitchen, which advises small food businesses; he’s also writing a memoir cookbook that includes his time as Jackson’s private chef. “I started bringing food to the cover shoot from the Thriller album. Around that time, the Hayvenhurst renovation finished, and I’d cook for him there.”

With the release of Thriller and attendant songs Billie Jean and Beat It, the career of moonwalking Jackson with his signature black-sequined jacket and single white glove, began to skyrocket.

As Richmond put it, “After that, bedlam set in.” But for Niall, it signaled something of a downturn.

“I went from cooking for him two to three times a month to once every couple of months,” Niall said. “His schedule was so busy they often relied on to-go food from the restaurant.”

An Outing With Michael Jackson To Disneyland

That period, however, was the lull before the storm that would launch Niall on a culinary trajectory, one hitched to a global superstar.

“In the spring of 1984, Michael called and asked me to cook for him and friends at Disneyland for the weekend,” said Niall, who also joined Jackson and his entourage for an outing to the park. “We had tons of fun, fans were screaming and following him,” Niall recalled. “On the monorail back to the Disneyland Hotel, Michael turned to me and said, ‘The Victory Tour leaves in June, are you available?’”

Catapulted into the role of Jackson’s private chef, the first for the star, Niall joined the tour beginning in June 1984 for final rehearsals in Birmingham, Alabama. Featuring the six Jackson brothers, the landmark tour with its five-story set concluded in December 1984, with most fans coming out to see Michael Jackson. His Thriller album, still the best-selling album of all time worldwide, was dominating the music scene.

“You can imagine, I’m on the road for the first time, away from the ashram and 3HO, which I haven’t left, and I’m stretching my wings,” Niall said. “I’m flying with Michael on his private jet, going to hosted parties where Donny Osmond, Mariette Hartley or Bobby Vinton would show up.”

Driving Around Harlem With Michael Jackson And Bill Bray

Head of security and trusted confidant to Jackson, Bill Bray (1925-2005), included Niall on jaunts with Jackson—to Walt Disney World, to see Ghostbusters, or a simple drive around Manhattan.

“That drive was during a heat wave, in an unmarked van,” Niall remembered. “Me, Michael, Bill Bray, the driver and another bodyguard were in the van. Michael wanted to drive around Harlem and see how people lived—people sitting out on fire escapes, out on the streets, or having a barbecue grill at 11:00 at night. I felt so honored to be invited along. Bill looked at me and said—because I was the only white guy in the van—‘Mani, if we have car trouble, you’re on your own.’ That was the kind of banter that Michael and Bill had. They were comfortable enough around me to carry on the way they normally did.”

Bray, who was not a vegetarian, would joke that Niall had stolen the hamburger he bought, claiming Niall had eaten it raw. “He’d tell that story during the whole Victory Tour, and everyone would crack up,” Niall said. “He made humor out of the silliest things—like a food processor I had that was pathetic and was really loud. He was like Redd Foxx. He would get the room in stitches. Michael loved that, they’d be laughing so hard.”

After the Victory Tour concluded, Niall stayed on as Jackson’s private chef for a year.

Chatting With Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis In Michael Jackson’s Kitchen

“Between the day-to-day usual cooking, there would be super fun movie star things—going to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch or Steven Spielberg’s place, or a trip to London,” Niall said. “Or, Sophia Loren would come to dinner—or Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando. I remember the time I chatted with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the kitchen while she took a cigarette break.”

Richmond, who cooked alongside Niall at the Golden Temple, concurred with Niall, who said Jackson always sought out those who brought extraordinary attention to detail to their work.

“I think one of the reasons I lasted a long time is because I was really there to cook for him, I wasn't there to party because I'm not a partier,” said Richmond, who was the owner of the Culver City-based Akasha Restaurant that ran from 2008 to 2025. All told, Richmond cooked for Jackson on and off for 14 years; she now runs Travel by Akasha, which offers cultural and culinary tours.

“I just did my job,” Richmond said. “I felt like we had a lot of mutual respect.”

As for Niall, he said his association with Jackson helped launch a culinary career that included his Los Angeles-based Mäni's Bakery, which he helmed from 1990 to 1998, and Oakland-based Sweet Bar Bakery, which he led from 2012 to 2018.

“When I served food, Michael always introduced me as his chef; he never ignored me,” Niall said. “That’s how he was with all the people he worked with. That made such a difference. I always felt seen. By doing that, he nurtured something in me that I couldn’t even see in myself at the time.”