Asha’s has celebrity status because it has had celebrities dine there. Long famous in Birmingham dining out history will be the Hollywood actor who ordered two chicken tikka masalas, so pleased with the first was he, it is said, that he just had to have a second.
Both my pocket and my appetite are more modest than those of Mr Cruise and Asha’s is not the place to dine for those with a limited budget. But I hadn’t dined there for a while and Michelin still includes it among its Guidebook recommended restaurants and I was in town and had limited time to dine so there I was, addressing all my needs in one venue - celebrity Asha’s.
It was approaching end of service so I didn’t feel I could complain about being seated in the less glamorous outer area the wrong side of the bar. I have never yet been admitted to the inner, more decorous sanctum possibly because, I suppose, I myself am less glamorous than the attractive, young, Asian-chic denizens of that spacious and atmospheric zone but as I have only dined there twice perhaps I shouldn’t read too much into things. I was seated at a ridiculously small table which barely had space for the various items I ordered and from time to time I snarled inwardly at having to move plates and glasses around to enable me to eat and drink what I was trying to eat.
Expensive it might be (£8.90 for poppadoms and chutneys) but there was certainly a profusion of the former though the latter was less generously portioned for the price. The menu was extensive and was spread across several pages of a book with padded covers and considering the numerous poppadoms quite adequate as a starter I proceeded to choose my main.
I preceded the meal with a large but rather timid Singapore Sling and then once the poppadoms were dispensed with, I chose Muscat gosht (£25.95) as my main paired with Peshwari naan (£6.45) and onion laccha salad (£4.45).
The Muscat gosht which Asha Bhosle is quoted on the menu as having discovered on a sightseeing trip to Oman - “I stopped for lunch at a small ‘dhaba’ and had the most wonderful Karahi gosht. This is my presentation of that hot afternoon” - was pleasingly and punchily spicy and very tender and deeply tasty. It was also very generously portioned and I could only manage half of it before asking for the rest to be parcelled up for me to take home. The large Peshwari naan was fairly thin and enjoyably moderately crispy on the outside and had an acceptable amount of raisins inside to sweetly match the curry. The onion laccha salad was not good - raw red onion rings covered in spices and served with some pretty uncharismatic pieces of lettuce - never to be reordered on any future visit to Asha’s..
Tom Cruise managed to eat two main courses, I managed just half of one which is probably why I’m not a film star and get to sit near the entrance rather than sitting in the midst of the opulent decor which is really what Asha’s is all about though most of the food is well prepared and does what old style curries should do. In the end though, perhaps unkindly, I wonder if Asha’s is a very triumphant triumph of style over substance. But it draws the diners in, particularly, I observed, clearly well off local Asians so it’s found its market, exploits it, clearly pleases and so carries on in a marketplace where others have failed a long time ago.
Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛
31 August 2024.
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