East India Company, community bid farewell to Kamal Mehra
The family who owns and operates the beloved Winnipeg restaurant, East India Company Pub and Eatery, is mourning the loss of the restaurant's founder, Kamal Mehra, who died Friday at age 66.
"I think dad was happiest when he was in the kitchen, when he was cooking, when he was creating," his son, Sachit Mehra told CBC's Information Radio.
After coming to Winnipeg in 1967, Kamal set down roots and introduced the city in the late 70s to fine Indian cuisine when he founded his original restaurant on the second floor of a movie theatre on Sherbrook Street. In 1974, Kamal married his wife Sudha.
Since Kamal's passing, the brothers say the community has rallied around their family.
'An incredible legacy'
They remember their father as a vibrant man, recalling the two trips he took to India each year, reconnaissance missions of sorts, bringing back what he learned into their family-run restaurant and passing it on to the family's other chef, their brother Nitin.
"Dad's left us with an incredible legacy," Sachit said, but it was so much more to their family than spreading the joy brought about by his recipes.
"He became sort of the go-to person for a lot of the community, for help, for advice or for anything that they needed. And so now people are sort of lost, they don't know what to do. Everyone who has come to the house has said 'I can't believe it, he's not supposed to be gone, he's the person that's always supposed to be there,'" son of Kamal, Anish Mehra said Monday.
A funeral for Kamal Mehra is being held at 2 p.m. on Tues., May 26 at Thomson "In the Park" Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Boulevard. Prayers will follow at Hindu temple, 999 St. Anne's Road at 6 p.m.
