Mumbai: The legacy of India’s playback legend Asha Bhosle extends far beyond the 12,000 songs she recorded across several languages through her 80-year-plus career.
Unknown to many, Asha was also a successful entrepreneur, operating Asha’s, a global restaurant chain across 14 outlets and two continents, which stemmed from her personal penchant for cooking, as reported by The Indian Express.
Founded in 2002, Asha’s first outlet opened at Wafi Mall in Dubai. At that time, the singer would take keen interest in the kitchen, providing recipes and her family’s signature garam masala, pounded in her hometown Mumbai. It is said that her inclination towards cooking began in her childhood, when she travelled extensively along with her father’s theatre troupe. She particularly enjoyed having meals with the entire crew seated together.
She was barely nine when her father passed away, but Asha, along with her sisters, including legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, had to look after the household as well as earn their family’s daily bread. Even though cooking became a compulsion then, Asha would continue to experiment in the kitchen, picking up the art of preparing north Indian and Maharashtrian delicacies.
Asha’s in Dubai was a phenomenal success and the chain expanded to other parts of the Middle East — Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. The franchise then reached the UK with the opening of two outlets in Birmingham and Manchester. While Asha Bhosle holds only 20% of the stakes in the business, the restaurant chain contributes significantly to her Rs 200-250 crore net worth, as per NDTV.
Primarily, north Indian dishes are served at all the outlets of Asha’s, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Signature dishes include Bhatti Ka Chaap, Makai Seekh Kebab, Fish Biryani, Muscat Gosht, Awadhi Chicken Biryani, Kodi Curry, and Peshawari Maa Ki Daal. Some of these recipes have been personally put together by Asha. She famously learnt to cook the Awadhi cuisine from Firdaus Jahan, wife of legendary poet and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri, who was also Asha’s frequent collaborator in Hindi film music.
While Bollywood greats like Shah Rukh Khan and Javed Akhtar have confessed their love for Asha’s cooking, particularly the kebabs, the singer’s restaurant chain has often invited Hollywood and international personalities, particularly in the Birmingham outlet. The most popular instance was when actor Tom Cruise showed up for an early dinner in 2021 after taking a break from the filming of his 2023 hit spy thriller Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Cruise landed up without a reservation, accompanied by the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie and some crew members, along with his security detail. The actor requested not to be given special treatment as he sat in the middle of the restaurant for a meal. He enjoyed the Chicken Tikka Masala Curry so much that he ended up ordering another portion.
The hashtag “Two Tikka Tom” went viral as that detail was made public by the official social media handles of Asha’s. The actor also posed for a picture with the staff outside the restaurant, quickly pulling his mask down while maintaining social distance during the Covid-19 pandemic. McQuarrie also enjoyed the palak paneer at Asha’s.
Other visitors to Asha’s include British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran in 2022, Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood in 2020, and American singer-songwriter Pink in 2023. Pink visited Asha’s right before her concert in the UK, hailing her meal as “the best Indian food she’s ever had” during her performance.
After Asha’s death on Sunday, Asha’s outlet at Dubai’s Wafi Mall closed its doors temporarily as a mark of respect and mourning, Gulf News reported.
The official website also posted an obituary, stating, “To the world, she was a voice that defined generations. To us, she was everything and she always will be.”
“Asha Ji was not just the name behind Asha’s. She was its heart, its spirit, its very foundation. Her love for food, her instinct for flavour, and her deep sense of hospitality shaped what Asha’s became and what it will always remain,” read the statement. “While her voice will continue to live on across the world, her presence at Asha’s does not feel like something we have lost it is something we will continue to carry, every single day,” it added.
