“Quality remains high,” read the headline of a 1985 Toronto Star review of Sher-E-Punjab, an Indian restaurant on Danforth Ave. that had recently moved a few doors east.
The headline writer could have added a qualifier, since the reviewer was “disappointed” with the lamb, thought the paratha was “disappointingly mild,” remarked on the “strange taste” of the gulabjaman, and said the new place looked like a fast-food restaurant.
A few weeks later, a letter from Richard Chambers published in the Star came to the restaurant’s staunch defence, saying the reviewer’s disappointment “is due to her lack of understanding of Indian cuisine, and no fault of the fine cooking of Malkit Singh.”
Chambers didn’t mention Amar Singh, Malkit’s husband and the public face of the restaurant. Amar was the first person patrons saw as he sat by the window, waving people in. He took orders and served the meals. He talked to his guests about almost anything. And he raised his four children in the restaurant, teaching them the importance of honesty and hard work.
The restaurant “is why we are who we are,” said oldest child Noni Fenby. “We really enjoyed it. It was our social scene.”
Amar Singh died in Toronto on Jan. 7, after four months in palliative care. He was 76.
“He was a figure on the Danforth, an institution,” said Jane Spooner, who has eaten about 400 meals at Sher-E-Punjab since 1979. “For us, he was a friend. Losing him is as much of a loss for [his family] as it is for me and my husband.”
“He was the restaurant,” said Carol Fripp, who started eating at the Sher-E-Punjab, pronounced “sherry Punjab” by the regulars, shortly after it opened in 1975. “He was constantly moving around and talking to people.”
“My dad just had that touch,” said Fenby. “His whole life was the restaurant and the customers.”
Malkit’s cooking and Amar’s personality made the restaurant a roaring success. A 1980 review in the Star said Sher-E-Punjab was “out in front” of the other Indian restaurants in town. The reviewer warned readers of the lineups outside from 6 to 8 p.m. almost every night.
Amar Singh was born in 1938 in Bombay, as Mumbai was then known. He was a mischievous kid, a daredevil, an easy-go-lucky boy.
One of his three sisters moved to Toronto and opened the Indian Rice Factory on Dupont St. When Singh arrived in Canada in 1969, he learned the restaurant business by helping his sister. He also worked as a tool and die maker at a factory.
Malkit and 6-year-old Noni arrived in 1970. Both Amar and Malkit worked several jobs until they had enough money to buy a property on the Danforth. They renovated the building, creating a restaurant on the ground floor and an apartment upstairs for the family.
Rick Needham happened to be on a sales call on Danforth Ave. the day Sher-E-Punjab, or “lion of Punjab,” opened for business. He noticed the seven-table eatery, walked in, and learned from Singh that he was the restaurant’s second-ever customer. Needham was hooked. He visited the restaurant every two weeks for the next five years while working in the area.
“He always made you feel welcome,” he said of Singh. The restaurant is still his favourite spot for birthdays and anniversaries.
In the early days, Singh headed to his factory job in the morning while his wife prepared for the 4:30 p.m. opening. He joined her after work at 6 p.m. to serve his patrons.
The restaurant was the family’s life, and all four kids helped out. Their mother cooked the same food she cooked at home, although she rarely cooked at home. The family ate most of their dinners in the restaurant before the evening rush started.
A typical after-school routine for Fenby involved getting home at 4 p.m., helping set up the restaurant for its opening, and then going upstairs to study. The doorbell later signalled it was time to come down and help.
Singh connected with his customers, young and old. When one of his regular patrons was in hospital, Singh showed up unannounced with a takeout box full of her favourite curry. When Singh noticed guests’ children fussing over food, he sometimes walked to a Greek restaurant a block away to buy French fries for these kids.
Singh was known for his passion for vintage English sports cars, and was often spotted driving around the neighbourhood in his green convertible wearing a green turban.
When Singh suffered a stroke about 10 years ago, his son, Jaspal, took charge of Sher-E-Punjab. Although his health declined after stroke, Singh still visited the restaurant almost daily. Once in palliative care, he asked his family every day whether they could take him to the restaurant.
Singh leaves behind his wife, two sisters, his four children, and four grandchildren.