Motimahal Restaurant Ltd

The Gerrard India Bazaar in Toronto’s east end was not always a bustling community bursting with bright saris, gem shops, aromatic spices and bumping bhangra. When Gurjit and Davinder Chadha came to Canada from Delhi in 1970 and opened MotiMahal in 1976, it was the first Indian restaurant in the area.

Neelu Sabharwal, one of their daughters who manages the family restaurant, recalls how her parents got some of their first customers: “My father would hang out on the street in front of the shop and when passersby would ask him if he knew any good places to eat, he would say, ‘This place is great!’ pointing to MotiMahal. They would always be surprised when he would follow them into the restaurant and pop up behind the counter to take their order!” After four decades, several franchises, three daughters and a devastating fire that levelled the original restaurant, MotiMahal is still a local institution.