In the early 1970s, newcomers to Canada, Kamal and Sudha Mehra, opened their first restaurant, Mehra’s Delicatessen, on McDermot Avenue across from Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. The couple served a host of deli sandwiches — including the famous “Mehra’s Special” (5oz. of rolled corned beef and pastrami, topped with Sudha’s secret hot mustard and melted Swiss cheese). Kamal’s mother, Usha Mehra, immigrated to Canada a year later, and the family founded Winnipeg’s first North Indian restaurant, India Gardens, featuring all of Mrs. Mehra’s original recipes and Winnipeg’s first five-star buffet. Over the years, Kamal and Sudha Mehra enamoured thousands of diners with those dishes. In 1994, the Mehras decided to expand, and opened their York Avenue location in Winnipeg, naming it East India Company. Their dedication to South Asian cuisine and culture, through the legacy they created, was felt both locally and nationally. Today, Sudha Mehra and her children carry forward this legacy of cuisine through three five-star restaurants in Winnipeg and Ottawa.