LADIES and gentlemen, music aficionados and gourmets, I present Asha Bhosle, India�s legendary singer and Dubai�s new restaurateur. Last year December, just after Ramzan Idd, she opened Asha�s, an ambitious Indian restaurant in Dubai named after herself. And in the prestigious shopping mall Wafi City, where if you know your Dubai, there are 12 restaurants already, including a Planet Hollywood. Asha�s is the first Indian eatery in the complex. I was there for the opening. And from what I saw, I believe this is going to be Wafi City�s flagship restaurant.

The most innovative Indian restaurant that Dubai has ever seen. Better, much better than the cheese and wine bars over there, the jazz clubs, the Thai and Chinese restaurants, English cafes, Mediterranean dining rooms, Italian pizzerias, Spanish tapas bars, French lounges. I thought, Sachin Tendulkar, eat your heart out!

This is my take on Asha�s. It is a new experience for Dubai, a restaurant with plush interiors and deep, rich colours that exude warmth. The design is contemporary, the environment buzzing, and the decor�s opulence compliment the friendly service and hospitality of the staff. It is a large family dining restaurant that also has children�s play area and an amazing terrace. There is no music on the walls, no gold discs and awards, Asha would not hear of it. Instead, there is a DJ playing live music. And the music is international, modern ethnic beat lounge with the occasional mix of Hindi hits by Asha. There are portraits of the singer on the walls, large black and whites, with every VIP and celebrity you can think of. I did not care too much for the staff�s uniforms. Particularly the women�s. But then I am not going to be seeing them often, so it does not matter.

But let me tell it from the beginning. Sometime in November last year a small item in a Bombay newspaper had caught my attention. Asha Bhosle, it said, was going to be marketing a sensational range of curry pastes and marinades that had been created exclusively by herself. That was my first indication that Asha, who I thought only sang, was something of a foodie and possibly also an amateur cook. The curry pastes included Butter Chicken, Rogan Josh and Coriander Chicken, and the marinades, Malai Kebab, Chicken Tikka and Lamb Chop. They had been created in Asha Bhosle�s kitchen at home in Bombay. Now they were being developed in Dubai with ingredients sourced from India. There was another surprise for me as I read the rest of the news item. Asha, it said, would introduce and sell these curry pastes and marinades at her new restaurant Asha�s in Dubai before the year end.

Consumed by curiosity, I called up the loveable singer at her residence in Bombay and invited myself over. �Come for lunch, I will cook for you,� Asha said, as if anticipating my curiosity about her culinary expertise. I knew that I was in for a great meal when I turned up at Asha�s home and found a fisherwoman outside the front door shelling and deveining a pile of prawns.

Inside, Asha was walking around with two grandchildren in her arms. �These are Zanai and Ranjai Raje,� she said lovingly, �my son Anand�s children.� And she was humming to herself, singing to the grandchildren, as she went about cooking lunch for us in the kitchen. Which, to me, is the sure sign of someone who loves cooking. Only a woman who is passionate about cooking, sings in the kitchen. And such a woman does not have to have Asha Bhosle�s voice to express herself!

�Tell me about the restaurant,� I said to Asha. �It is called Asha�s, my first restaurant,� the singer replied. �Sheikh Manna-bin-Halifa al Makhtoum, who is of the ruling family in Dubai, is my friend. Happily, I am popular in Dubai. They associate me with trendy, modern Arabic music there, which they believe is an extension of India. I hadn�t visited Dubai till not so very long ago. But the ruling family was familiar with my music. I bumped into them at Marks & Spencers in London sometime in the late 1980s. The daughters of the family took my autograph. And I�ve been close to them since then.�

But the restaurant, it developed as an idea when Asha toured Dubai in 1998 and 1999. The Gulf News had interviewed her and Asha had talked about cooking, how it was a passion with her, and how her ambition was to someday start a restaurant. The Dubai ruling family read the interview. Next day, Sheikh Manna-bin-Halifa al Makhtoum�s management experts, who were all British, contacted Asha. They felt that since the Gulf had such a large Indian presence, and an Asian influence, what was required was a restaurant out of India. That was three years ago. �I told them, if a restaurant is to have my name, then it must be successful, I want the food to be exactly the way I cook it,� said Asha. �They agreed!�

Most of last year, while the restaurant was being readied in Dubai, Asha spent training its two main chefs in her style of cooking at home. Chef Sachin Tilak and Chef Salim Qureshi are experienced men in the kitchen, but in their kitchens, not Asha�s. In her kitchen at home, her cook from Bengal, John, does most things. But Asha goes to the markets. To Citylight at Mahim for fish, Crawford Market for vegetables, Prathana Samaj for spices and condiments. Naturally, she is recognised. People are surprised to see her buying fish, arguing with the fisherwomen about the freshness of the catch, bargaining for a discount. �But I am cool about it,� she told me nonchalantly. The other produce is delivered home. Chicken and mutton by the family�s butcher from Jogeshwari. And John cooks to Asha�s directions. I saw how it happens. In between talking to me, she would dash off into the kitchen to instruct him about something.

�What all can you cook,� I asked Asha. �I can cook everything that I like to eat,� she replied. �My menus at home are mixed. Don�t expect typical Maharashtrian food here. It might be Bengali fish, Lucknowi shammi kebab, Peshawari biryani, Goan prawn curry, South Indian chicken fry, Maharashtrian Pathare Prabhu bhaji, Parsi mutton dhansak, Hyderabadi salan pulao. There is not much that is vegetarian. I learnt from when my children, Anand, Hemant and Varsha were very small, to have plenty of non-vegetarian food at home. That way, they did not go to restaurants to eat it. Or to other people�s homes.�

And her menu at Asha�s, she told me, and I later saw for myself, was exactly as if she had drawn it up for home. It has 96 items of food, every single one of which Asha can cook herself. Which is not to suggest that if you visit the restaurant in Dubai, you will find Asha standing behind the range ready to cook your meal. Chefs Sachin and Salim will be in charge. And they will be cooking according to Asha�s set guidelines. Whenever she is in Dubai, Asha will review their work, she will make sure the kitchen is going according to her standards.

She was confident even then about the success of Asha�s. I pointed out to her that other theme restaurants, like Tendulkar�s in Bombay, and Planet Hollywood all over the world, including in Dubai, had come to grief because the food did not match the ambience of the place and the diners� expectations. �Those kind of restaurants have run out of fashion,� she said. �I took one look at a Planet Hollywood menu in Los Angeles and said that this chain would not run. A menu of salads, sandwiches and burgers is too gimmicky. It was okay for the 1980s but not now. I believe people go to theme restaurants for the food, finally. Not to gape at actors� clothes and posters. My restaurant is about good food, not atmosphere. It is a nice and casual place, not a hangout for stuffed shirts, you won�t be intimidated here. Sure, it is fine wining and dining, but not at those kind of prices.�

Indeed, she was right. Later, when I visited Asha�s in Dubai, I found that the restaurant was large. It is spread over 6,500 square feet. It seats 200, is not crowded, in fact it is pretty open and well spaced out. She has insisted on a bar menu with cocktails that have Indian tastes, and wines from France, Italy, Australia, Germany and Chile that you will not find elsewhere in Dubai. Asha herself is against alcohol and tobacco. But then she is also against ice-cream and cold drinks! When she is on tour, doing concerts, she will treat herself to two spoons of ice-cream only after the last show is over. She does not have adventurous tastebuds. Abroad, she will eat whatever is available. But meat and fish must be included.

She discussed Asha�s menu. It is avante garde. No standard recipes and classic dishes. �It is like ghar ka khana from all over India,� she said. �What I don�t like to eat, I have not put on the menu. And most of what I know, is what I learnt from my mother and grandmother and my friends. My mother�s prawn curry cooked in coconut and turmeric gravy. A boneless chicken cooked in ginger, garlic and almonds and had with coconut gravy that I learnt from Majrooh Sultanpuri�s wife, Begum. The Peshawari biryani that Raj Kapoor showed me how to make. Maa ki dal cooked three days over a coal sigdi (otherwise there is no maza!), and a paya simmered in its own gravy for three days, raan marinated overnight with masalas I have ground in a sil batta, Goan fried fish given a green mirchi tadka in ghee, and R. D. Burman�s favourite fried prawns.�

Since she had mentioned his name, I asked Asha about the late R. D. Burman, the great love of her life. Music and cooking came much after. She was happy to talk about him. �He was a great foodie. He loved to entertain. Burman saab would call and say he is bringing some people over for dinner. And 40 would arrive! People like Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, who used to be crazy about my Kali Dal and Goan Fish Curry, Dev saab, Yash Chopra, the entire Kapoor khandaan who love paya, Jeetendra, Zeenat Aman, Rajesh Khanna, Dilip saab. Every week, twice a week, Burman saab would request me to cook for them. He used to be so proud of my cooking.