Celebrating India’s legacy

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — Jehangir Khan is dedicated to celebrating the legacy of India and spent two years preparing to launch The Maharaja, an 85-seat boutique restaurant that opened earlier this year in a heritage building in central Mississauga.

“We wanted to do it right,” he said.

That entailed conducting extensive research of Indian dishes, the history of the country’s culinary and geographic regions, and India’s legacy of hospitality over hundreds of years.

All menu items come from Indian and Persian history books, he said.

For more than two months before launch, the ownership team, which includes Indian-born Khan; his wife, Sheryl Serrao (who handles marketing and finance) and his father, Kekky (who has more than 40 years of hospitality experience) taste-tested the recipes — eight to 10 courses per day, four days a week, refining and culling the dishes that would make the final cut — in a rental kitchen overseen by executive chef Praveen Chilkuri.

What emerged from that intensive research and development phase was a menu devoted to India’s Avadh, Hyderabad, Punjab and Rajasthan regions.

Wherever possible, Khan sources ingredients such as meats and produce locally, and imports key spices such as yellow chili powder (India), saffron (Iran) as well as cinnamon (Yemen).

Khan’s goal was to create a menu that gets away from the “subdued,” cream-based fare that, he said, is the norm in Indian restaurants, and instead, brings out the cuisine’s “vibrancy.”

Charged with that task is Chilkuri, who hails from Hyderabad and has worked in kitchens in India, Dubai and Toronto and taught in Humber College’s culinary program.

Next job was to gut the restaurant and kitchen in the 156-year-old building.

Following a ten-and-a-half-month refurbishment, costing nearly $1 million, the space features rooms designed in the style of three Indian palaces: The Palace of Wind or Breeze (bright, elegantly decorated); The Palace of Colour (vibrantly hued, with striking arc forms); and The Palace of Mirrors (highlighted by a chandelier and lattice of mirrors). Luminescent onyx punctuates an elegant bar area serving single malts, blended scotch and about 35 wines and seven beers chosen to partner with Indian food. The newly outfitted kitchen features two tandoor ovens.

Representing India’s regions on the plate are such dishes as kebob of spiced, ground lamb (Avadh); herbed, shallow-fried eggplant topped with garlic tomato sauce (Hyderabad); and lamb cooked with red chilies (Rajasthan).

Khan, who noted that the restaurant’s pricing is in line with other tier-one Indian restaurants, aims to “establish the brand and then take it to the next level.”

This year’s plans call for the introduction of special-event nights, highlighting classic movies or sporting events broadcast on four 62-inch TVs hidden behind paintings adorning the restaurant’s walls.

Also on the horizon is raj-style afternoon tea, “like a British tea, but with a twist,” dishing up savoury spiced sandwiches and pastries, said Khan, who noted that 30 per cent of the clientele is non-Indian.

He also plans to add more vegetarian dishes in response to clients who are seeking meat-free options, and wants to highlight additional culinary regions of India via one-week festival menus.

Khan classifies the restaurant, with its themed rooms and historically based menu, as “experience-based,” and to date, traffic bears that out, with 60 per cent of reservations being made for special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, proposals and the like).