With portraits of Asha Bhosle and her family decorating the walls, a newly opened Indian restaurant will give diners a ride through her musical journey.
Co-owned by the 82-year-old singer, one of the most regarded music artistes across the world, the venue is a stylish new addition to Peter Street in Manchester.
The restaurant displays portraits of Bhosle and her family, along with beaded fringing inspired by her stage costumes and jewellery.
“We’ve tried to develop a contemporary atmosphere but the building is around 170 years old, so we’ve tried to make sure we’ve restored it sympathetically,” Sue Potter, managing director of the ARIL Group, the restaurant’s parent company, said.
“We’ve used purple as an accent colour but otherwise we’ve kept to a quite neutral palette. The ochre is quite an important part of our identity, referencing the saffron in Indian cookery and the burnt orange colours you see in a lot of Indian art work.”
The menu is a modern take on traditional Indian cuisine with many of the dishes accompanied by notes from Asha, explaining their connections with her life and career.
Asha, a noted cook as well as a performer, opened her first restaurant in Dubai in 2002 and the brand has since spread across the Middle East. The Manchester branch is only the second in the UK, after Birmingham.
The restaurant wears a simple look with purple as accent colour. It is decorated with booths clustered along one wall and lighting hanging from the ceilings.
The restaurant is a 170-year-old building and it cost 2 million pounds ($1.5 million) for its renovation.
The menu is traditional Indian cuisine with many of the dishes named as a tribute to the singer’s connections and career.
Apart from special curries such as ‘bharwan tandoori aloo’, ‘tandoori jhenga’ and ‘murg masala’, the menu also includes ‘Hare baingnan ka bharta’ (one of Bhosle’s mother’s favourite dishes) and Rahul Dev Burman ‘chingri chaap’, a tribute to her late husband.
(With inputs from PTI)