L’Oréal Blackett gets a brimful of Manchester’s palatial new Indian restaurant
WHEN ’90s indie rockers Cornershop found muse in a Bollywood Actress, Asha Bhosle, for their 1998 hit Brimful of Asha, they failed to mention that the singer – the most recorded musician in the world – is a very keen cook.
Asha Bhoshe’s Bollywood legend and kitchen prowess also provided inspiration for international high-end Indian chain Asha’s – owned by the prolific UAE restaurant Asha’s Group – which first opened in Dubai thirteen years ago and now has ten restaurants across the Middle East and one in Birmingham.
Asha’s Manchester – fronted by Peter Warden (formerly of Individual Restaurants: RBG and Piccolino) – is the latest to join the acclaimed chain, which has featured in the Michelin Guide eight times, no less.
Having been over a year in the offing, there’s high expectations surrounding Asha’s, which has seen the mid-nineteenth century Grade II listed building on the corner of Peter Street and Mount Street (opposite the Midland) on the receiving end of a £2m revamp.
Sultrily lit with boudoir-style drapings, they’ve showered the build in gold finishings, deep okra’s (purple when it’s at home) and handmade gold ‘battered’ light fixtures which apparently took over two months to make. There’s enough gold here to make Goldie jealous, and while Asha’s is, with all intention, palatial, the venue somehow manages to avoid ostentation. Just.
It’s big too. Spread across two floors and over 6000 sq ft, Asha’s features a 100-cover restaurant and a dedicated ‘Bolli Bar’, which, incidentally, has nothing to do with thatBolly
– Written by L’Oreal Blackett | Follow @loreal_b | Friday, 11 September 2015 09:32
