Indian fusion restaurant to open in former home of longtime OEV tavern

The former home of the St. Regis Tavern, the Old East Village mainstay that served up suds for decades before closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, is getting a new lease on life serving up Indian fusion food.

Next week, 625 Dundas St. will reopen as Highstreet by Delhi Gang, an Indian restaurant spearheaded by newcomers to London's restaurant scene who are looking to make a mark, while giving a nod to the building's taphouse history. 

Kritik Sherawat, Highstreet's owner, graduated from Fanshawe College's international business management program last year as an international student from India. He joined the program with the goal of opening a restaurant, and for the last two months has been putting what he's learned into practice. 

"This is my first time," Sherawat said on Tuesday, as work continues in the space to get ready for opening day, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 6. "I decided London will be the best place."

"I used to have my college in London, but I lived in Mississauga. I know how people are here, it is very friendly ... It's a growing city, especially Old East Village. Now, every day, new businesses are coming up."

When the restaurant opens, patrons will indulge in Indian food that has "a little bit of fusion and twist," said Ankita Narula, a Mississauga-based event planner, restaurant consultant and friend of Sherawat who decided the menu.

"Canada is extremely diverse, and we want to cater to as many ethnicities as possible. We have things like butter chicken poutine, and then we have Mughlai items — Mughlai is a traditional Indian cuisine," she said. 

The signature dish will be Mughlai kebabs, which Narula says takes time and skill. Galouti kebab, made of lamb, will also be available. "It's a kebab which literally melts in your mouth," she said. Tandoori chicken wings and malai tikka sliders will also round out the menu.

The restaurant has applied for a liquor licence, and plans to feature occasional live entertainment, once sound dampers are installed to avoid disrupting upstairs tenants.

The eatery is a family affair, with Sahibjir Sharma, Sherawat's cousin, as manager. The business follows two others under the same name opened by the family in New Delhi more than 15 years ago.

"I want to work under my own family. I don't want to work under any people," said Sharma, a recent Georgian College business administration and management graduate. "We want to make it a food chain."

Sherawat says opening a restaurant is expensive and time-consuming, but he hopes to have franchises open across Canada in the near future.

The history of the building was part of its appeal, he said.

Long known as an OEV watering hole, The St. Regis Tavern and hotel was purchased by Earl and Shanni Bell in 1981, who operated it together until Earl's death in 2008. Shanni ran the bar until it closed in March 2020. Another eatery, Backroads Café & Tavern, opened during the pandemic but later closed.

The site has hosted hotels and taverns since the 1880s under the names Crown, Appleton's, Fallahe's, Duke of York, and Empire, according to the book The North & the East by John Lutman and Christopher Hives. 

It earned the St. Regis name in 1931. The city's registry of cultural heritage resources lists the current building as dating to 1912. 

"There were many spaces that were available, but this place ... when I saw it, it was very awesome," he said. "Then I found it has a very big patio that no one else is having over here."

The building's landlord, Jason Tudge, told CBC News he was glad to see new business come into the space.

"I'm incredibly excited for them, and I hope that they do very well," he said. "They've been in there already. They've been doing lots of work."

Kevin Morrison, general manager of the Old East Village Business Improvement Area, said the neighbourhood has had its challenges and struggles, "but we also have so much potential."

"We are going to be such a diverse neighborhood when it comes to a lot of the eating establishments. We have a lot of newcomers coming that are looking to open up," he said.

"To hear that there's another restaurant with a cultural background opening up in the Old East Village, that really does excite me."