When Toronto’s Andrew Pepper has guests from out of town they come with a list of things-to-do. Climb up the CN Tower, a visit to Toronto’s only castle Casa Loma and a ferry ride across Lake Ontario to the Toronto Islands, are usually on their list.

But what Pepper, an executive producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, loves to do most is to treat them to dinner at Lahore Tikka House, the iconic eatery that serves delicious Mughlai food in the Little India neighbourhood of Toronto.

“It exemplifies what Toronto has become over the years,” he says. “Not only does it serve the best butter chicken in town, the tent-like structure adorned with colourful saris, dupattas, swings and the model auto-rickshaw parked outside, adds to the total experience.”

The late Alnoor Sayani, 59, founder of the Lahore Tikka House came to Canada in 1982. Neighbours on the strip of Gerrard Street East remember him selling roasted makkai/corn on the street by day and sleeping in his car by night.

Like many other South Asians, the Sayanis were kicked out of Uganda by the infamous Idi Amin. The young Sayani, whose family hails from Pakistan, immigrated with his parents to Canada, by way of the United Kingdom.

Penniless and hardened by his third migration, Sayani knew he wanted more from life than selling corn on the streets of Toronto.

By the early 1990s Canada’s immigrant profile was changing. More and more south Asians (Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans) were being let into the country. That translated into a healthy growth in the appetite for South Asian food.

Sayani, the intrepid businessman, smelled an opportunity and in 1996 opened the Lahore Tikka House with a couple of tables spread out over a courtyard. He recreated, both in cuisine and atmosphere, the true Lahore experience. The stucco structure with elaborate tile work and resplendent arches takes the customers back in time to the iconic Mughal-era forts of Lahore, Agra and Delhi.

“His service was personal, fast and furious,” says Pesh Patel, an Indo-Canadian who was introduced to the eatery rather late in life.

“I immigrated to Canada as a student. Now I am ready to retire. I have lived in half a dozen cities across Canada and the US. But if I have to take my family for a taste of India, I will take them to Lahore Tikka House. It is so quintessentially Indian, it breaks down barriers and makes everyone feel comfortable no matter which side of the border you come from.”

“The difference melts, quite like the tender meat in your mouth,” adds his wife, Zarine, who is Indian by birth, but whose father hails from Pakistan.

Just as the South Asian community has grown in numbers, so have the neighbourhoods around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Although a frequent visitor and lover of Mughlai food, Lachman Balani, a community organiser from Brampton, Ontario, has not been to Lahore Tikka House in a while. “The last time I ate there, was like six years ago. And even though I enjoyed the delicious food, it was too far to go every time. There are very good choices here in Mississauga and Brampton.”

With so many south Asians living across the stretch of GTA, one can find tikka joints and other desi fare at almost every major intersection in the cities that make up the GTA.

With offerings such as the mega-buffet Tandoori Flame which offers 150-items in the suburbs and The Host Fine Indian Cuisine which has set shop across the GTA makes for less Indian traffic trudging up Gerrard Street East.

“The last time I was in Gerrard Street was about three years ago,” adds Balani. With the centre of gravity for all things South Asian shifting to the suburbs, Sayani was savvy enough to get involved in the largely white Canadian community that makes up the demographic of Toronto’s east end. City councillors and Members of Parliament used his restaurant as a meeting place to launch programmes that were culture-specific.

Survived by his wife and three boys he will always be remembered as the man who put South Asian cuisine on the cultural map of Toronto.

For Indian foodies like Andrew Pepper, with or without Sayani, Lahore Tikka House will always be the go-to place for all desi food in Toronto.