The next chapter in the business plan is to open multiple locations and then open grocery sections to sell their sauces
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chef Simon Vine of the new Mysala Indian Bistro on Granville Street. Photograph by : Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun
When Paul Thind talks business plans, he goes at a gallop. But the question is, can a couple of guys with business savvy, a passion for food and no restaurant experience make a go of running a modern Indian restaurant?
Thind, managing partner of Mysala Indian Bistro, commerce graduate, former commercial printing operator, said his mom didn’t think so. “When I told her we going to open an Indian restaurant, she asked us how much we’d been drinking. She thought we’d lose interest the moment we had to make a cup of chai.”
Well, Mysala opened last month on nightclub row on Granville, and Thind and partner Davy Sangara (who is also involved in his family’s substantial businesses) have certainly done their homework.
Mysala began life as a businessman selling sauces, chutneys and seasonings to Whole Foods and Capers from a factory kitchen in Burnaby. They grew that business until the time was right for their restaurant, after looking a year and a half for the right location.
Mysala’s long, narrow room has a towering ceiling, comfortable leather banquette seating and Indian fusian music. The name looks like masala with a typo, but it isn’t. It’s a mash-up of masala and mystery.
“The mystery is, we go and enjoy good Chinese, Japanese and Western fare in Vancouver. We always wondered why Indian hadn’t reached that level,” says Thind, acknowledging that Vij’s is no slouch in that respect. “The idea was to bring Western hospitality and plating but to keep with tradition. India is moving in that direction as well.”
They want to be like an Indian version of Earl’s or The Keg. The next chapter in their business plan is to open multiple locations and then open grocery sections to sell their sauces, meals, desserts, and condiments, sort of like Hon’s, Rangoli and Thai House.
“If the product is just on a grocery shelf and no one’s tasted it, you need to have demos. There’s a knowledge gap,” says Thind. “The business plan is, people will experience the food at the restaurant and they’ll want to experience the food at home later.”
Prices for appetizers are $6 to $11 and $15 to $28 for mains. Based on what I’ve tried at the restaurant, the power points are the melodious sauces and the varied chutneys like roasted tomato; tamarind and mango; tamarind and mint; and pineapple. At the restaurant at any rate, they’re fresh and lively. Curry sauces are light and easy on the stomach partly because the kitchen uses extra virgin olive oil instead of the traditional clarified butter.
I also liked the chicken pakora appetizer — a large serving of light, juicy chicken. The menu pairs it with pineapple chutney and cucumber raita but ours came with butter chicken sauce and raita. I cannot complain about the Goa crabcakes with tamarind, mint and yogurt sauce — they were fine but not outstanding. Lamb kebabs with almond and mango chutney, another appy, was a generous dish with four tasty minced lamb kebabs, a salad, naan and rice.
Moving into the main courses, beef vindaloo was bathed in a delicious chocolate-hued sauce; tandoori chicken was too dry and since it wasn’t cooked in a tandoor, should go by another name. Saffron lamb chops were nice and tender and served on a cast iron pan with saffron coconut cream sauce. Ajwain wild salmon was left largely uneaten as it didn’t taste fresh and the dish, served with a cilantro mint sauce, rice, mixed veg and naan wasn’t visually appealing.
The rice, by the way, is very good with hints of cinnamon and cardamom. Thind says it’s Kashmiri rice, aged two years.
We enjoyed a chai creme “Bombay” with blueberry and ginger compote for dessert; coconut cardamom brownie tasted of cardamom but not of chocolate.
There’s a modest list of wines, a decent beer list and a dozen cocktails. All in all, a good value restaurant, an Indian Earl’s.
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MYSALA INDIAN BISTRO
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
Price: $$
980 Granville St., 604-688-2969, www.mysalarestaurant.com. Open 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m daily
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
