22-year old Mateusg Jadach was once unaware of the legendary Indian singer Asha Bhonsle. He also had little clue about Indian cuisine or Bollywood.
All of this changed when he joined Asha’s as a food-runner in Manchester in 2015.
Mateusg who hails from Poland and is popularly known as ‘Mathew’ among his colleagues, had no inkling about Butter or Tandoori chicken, tarka dal or rajma – or really, any kind of Indian food.
I knew nothing about the (Indian) cuisine. I joined the restaurant as a food-runner but after two months of its opening, it got very busy, and I was asked to take care of the customers; this is when I became familiar with the nuances of Indian food and spices.
Today, he has become an expert in cooking delicacies like tikka masala, pakora and mutter paneer.
Asha’s Restaurant and Burman’s Favourites
Apart from the culinary skills, Mateusg has also picked up a few Hindi words and songs.
As he obligingly hums one of his favourite numbers, ‘Jimmy, Jimmy Aaja…’ from the 1982 Bollywood musical-drama Disco Dancer, he says –
It was only after I joined Asha’s that I learnt that my boss was none other than the great Indian playback singer herself!
Situated in the heart of Manchester city on Peter Street, Asha’s is the 10th restaurant owned by one of the most popular singers of Hindi cinema – Asha Bhonsle.
The latter is currently the driving force behind the high-end global Indian restaurant chain that has spread its wings across 13 locations in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar in the Gulf, and Birmingham and Manchester in the United Kingdom.
Manchester-based Amy Vain and her partner Paul Kennedy often spend a few hours here on Saturday evenings. Apart from the usual Indian cuisine, one of their favourites is the ‘Lamb Muscat Gosht’ (boneless lamb cooked until tender with whole spices in rich and spicy gravy) and the ‘Chingri Chaap’ (breadcrumb-coated king prawn, marinated in ginger, garlic and spices, fried to golden brown).
These two items are the signature dishes of Asha’s for the simple reason that they were the favourites of Asha’s husband and music maestro RD Burman.
Many years back, Ashaji was in Muscat with her family. On one of their trips, she began to feel hungry and stopped to eat at an Indian restaurant where she ordered the karai gosht. Loving the taste, she complimented the chef and asked for the recipe. She would later go on to cook this for her family and give it the name ‘Muscat Gosht’ as a tribute to the city of Muscat and the chef, revealed Sudheer Bastian. (Bastian, incidentally, is the global brand manager of Asha’s.)
Why Food at Asha’s is a Hit
Ashwani Rangta, the corporate chef fondly remembers the legendary singer who sang Chura Liya Hain Tumne Jo Dil Ko, from the 1973 hit Bollywood film, Yaadon Ki Baaraat, during the team’s cooking session with the connoisseur herself training them in Manchester in 2015.
“She enjoys cooking, and her passion for food rubs on us,” says Rangta who’s been working at the restaurant for over three years.
If food at Asha’s is the talk of the town, then, its interior too has been equally impressive.
Dr Anupam Shrotri, a breast and general surgeon from Liverpool who celebrated Valentine’s Day with her husband Dr Milind Shrotri and few of their friends in 2015, found the décor “classy”.
I was very impressed with the décor and the spaciousness of the place. The service was very unobtrusive and the food was a mix of innovative and traditional – marking it out from scores of Indian restaurants that offer very standard menus. It was not very spicy, probably catering to local tastes.
Meanwhile, Rahul Laud, a city-based media and corporate communications consultant, who’s also a frequent visitor to Asha’s, is of the opinion that apart from its “pleasant ambience, the starters are absolutely mouth-watering – especially the vegetarian ones”.
One can expect a real feel of India at Asha’s. The soft lighting, well-designed upholstery and Ashaji’s all-time hit songs that play in the background, make the visitors feel well at ‘home away from home’.
(Anjana Parikh works with the healthcare sector in the UK. She's also a freelance writer based in Manchester. Before relocating to the UK in 2013, she worked as a full-time journalist with some of India's leading dailies like The Times of India, Deccan Herald and The Sunday Guardian. She also worked as the News Editor for a leading British Asian weekly Asian Lite. Apart from reading and writing, she also loves rambling and singing.)
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