Asha Bhosle is a popular Bollywood playback singer with an extensive career spanning over six decades. This talented lady is also known for her scrumptious cooking and often gets flooded with requests for biryani or curry by Bollywood celebrities. It was only a matter of time before she launched her own chain of restaurants, specialising in contemporary Indian cuisine. The new block of Mall of the Emirates has one of her highly-praised branches, where I first decided to test her mouth-watering dishes.
Aptly named Asha’s, the interior of the restaurant was fresh, lively and very welcoming. Sharply uniformed hostesses were quick to lead us to a table and present the menu. Every dish on the menu was detailed with interesting facts – when it was first created, which Bollywood personality’s favourite it is and what are the different variations available in the restaurant. There were several appetizers, vegetarian meals, meat kebabs, biryani, daal and various funky mocktails.
A big fan of Indian vegetarian food, I tend to avoid their meat dishes. I believe India’s specialty lies in vegetarian food – unlike Pakistan, where hard-core meat dishes such as nihari , lamb, korma and delicious beef ribs reign supreme. Keeping that in mind, I decided to order grilled paneer with vegetables and dahi puri.
The service was quick and my food arrived in no time. The grilled paneer was cooked to perfection but I just couldn’t help compare it to Sanjeev Kapoor’s version of the same dish, which, I have to say, is far more delicious. My dahi puri looked great – and tasted just the same. It was sweet and tangy and very light.
After much deliberation, here are my ratings for Asha’s:
Food: Three stars
Presentation: Five stars
Ambience: Four stars
Rendezvous with Ruba 