April 5, 2006

A dream fulfilled

By Kyle Gordon
kgordon4@uwo.ca

Patson, 36, discovered a passion for cooking after watching his older brother, Anil, prepare savory dishes at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi, India.

Photo by Kyle Gordon

Patson Massey says his older brother inspired him to become a chef.

He recalled the first time he entered an industrial kitchen. He was visiting Anil at the hotel and he was instantly overwhelmed by the size of the kitchen and the variety of fresh items. He watched for an hour as Anil busily prepared a special chicken dish.

After it was made, Anil offered his brother a taste. "I ate it and I really enjoyed it. It was different from the food Anil prepared at home," Patson said.

At that moment, Patson said he knew he wanted to be a chef. "I was inspired by Anil," he said.

At the age of 18, Patson began his career in the food industry. But it wasn't until 1988 when he started working for a prestigious five star deluxe hotel in New Delhi that his career as a chef really began.

At the Taj Palace, Patson received the training and skills required to succeed in the food business. "The hotel really focuses on the quality of food and hygiene. This was the environment I was trained in," he said.

In 1996, after eight years at the Taj Palace, Patson left his "home base" and moved to Canada. It was in Toronto where he found the higher standard of living he was looking for. He started working for Shishir Sharma, owner and chef at Cuisine of India on Yonge Street.

"He was a good worker and he came on time and did what was required to be done," said Sharma.

He noticed a great improvement in Patson's cooking during the 10 years he worked at the restaurant.

While Patson worked hard to establish a career in Toronto, his parents were busy finding him a bride. They found her in New Delhi.

"It was an arranged marriage. I hadn't met him before we were engaged," said Anisha, 28.

The couple saw each other for the first time just a month before their wedding on Dec. 30, 1998, in New Delhi. "We liked each other, so we married," she said.

Six months later, Anisha left her family and moved to Toronto to start a life with her husband. While Patson continued to work at Cuisine of India, Anisha started her career as a business supports specialist at CIBC's head office.

But the two were not satisfied in Toronto. "We wanted to move out of Toronto and at the same time do something of our own," she said. They also wanted to raise their two girls, six-year-old Anushka and two-year-old Jessica, in a smaller city.

Anisha spent all her days off searching cities where they could open an Indian restaurant. They visited St. Catharines, Waterloo, Kitchener and Hamilton. A friend told them to check out London and when they did they were surprised by the size.

"I never thought London was a big city. I liked it," she said.

They found an available restaurant on King Street and decided it would be a good location to open their restaurant.

"We liked the city and everything kept on clicking. It was just luck that we got this place so we said, 'Let's do it,' " she said.

In October Anisha quit her job at the bank and Patson left Sharma and Cuisine of India to open Massey's Fine Indian Cuisine in London.

"The restaurant business is long hours and demanding. The most important thing in running a restaurant is being able to produce consistent products. You must maintain consistency with the food," Sharma told Patson before he moved to London.

But before Patson could focus on creating flavourful dishes, he needed to renovate the poorly constructed kitchen.

"He wants everything organized and working in a certain way," said Anisha.

They began by ripping everything out of the kitchen and putting in new equipment. They added a tandoor oven, an essential piece of hardware designed for Indian cooking. The stainless steel outside and the clay inside create the ideal cooking condition for naan bread, lamb, beef and chicken skewers.

Photo by Kyle Gordon

Patson and Anisha Massey own Massey's Fine Indian Cuisine.

For three weeks Patson and Anisha worked tirelessly to make the restaurant perfect for opening day. "We didn't want to waste time. We wanted to open as soon as we could because we were short on budget," Anisha said.

They personally reupholstered the chairs in a burgundy fabric, purchased new linens for the tables and hung the Indian-inspired decorations on the walls and from the ceiling.

Once the kitchen was perfect, Patson turned his focus to cooking. "I know the ratios of the cloves and cinnamon and how to mix it together for the good taste," Patson said.

"We use expensive spices here and the majority of them come from India. He blends his own spices, so it's not a prepackaged seasoning," Anisha added.

At Massey's, unlike many Indian restaurants, different kinds of meats are cooked in their own unique gravy. Restaurants often use the same sauce with all their meats. This can cause the lamb, chicken and beef dishes to taste the same, she said.

"Here, everything on the menu is entirely different," Anisha said.

With the new décor and unique food in order, the restaurant opened in the third week of October. Patson is responsible for the food preparation and Anisha tends to the managerial aspect of the restaurant. She said her customer service experience at CIBC has helped her deal with the patrons at the restaurant.

"I'm all things except the chef. I leave the cooking to my husband because he does that best," she said.

Although the menu is small, Patson said the key to success is quality not quantity. "We have a limited amount of food, but it's good quality."

The daily lunch buffet features vegetarian dishes, appetizers, salads, desserts, naan bread, mango chutney and pickles. But it's the sit-down dinner menu that draws in the crowd.

Anisha's favourite items on the dinner menu are murg tikka lababdar, broiled chicken breast simmered in a chopped tomato and onion gravy with spices; lamb korma, boneless lamb cooked in yogurt gravy; tandoori prawn, jumbo shrimp marinated in ajwain and tandoori mahi tikka, fish marinated in traditional Indian style spices and baked in a tandoor oven.

"The good thing about our restaurant is that Patson is the chef and owner so even if you come back after five years you will find the same food," Anisha said.

The consistent flavour of the food is one reason that business has been so good for the restaurant.
"Everybody loves the food here. All the feedback has been really good. Especially when Indian people come and eat here and appreciate the food. That is the best compliment," said Anisha.

"The food is really good and the buffet is reasonably priced," said Nestor Andrade, a customer at the restaurant.

Andrade has eaten at many Indian restaurants in London, but he said that Massey's Fine Indian Cuisine is the only one that serves authentic Indian dishes.

"This kind of traditional Indian food is very unique to the London area," he said.

The response has also been very positive from the students at the University of Western Ontario. Some of the students have even helped them spread the word by handing out flyers.

Anisha and Patson have already discussed expanding their business. "We are definitely thinking of a small restaurant where we can do takeout for students and people who can't afford to sit down in a fine dinning restaurant. This way they can come and spend less, but still receive the same good taste," she said.

Patson will still be the primary cook, but he will need another chef to assist him. Anil, Patson's brother who inspired him to become a chef years ago, will be joining him in the kitchen in mid April.