Asha’s in Wafi, Oud Metha, Dubai - Restaurant Reviews

Asha’s

Fatigued after an afternoon’s backstroking in the Gulf, we rolled up Wafi’s sphinx-lined steps and kicked back on Asha’s terrace 13 Reviews

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Fatigued after an afternoon’s backstroking in the Gulf, we rolled up Wafi’s sphinx-lined steps and kicked back on Asha’s terrace. Named for Bollywood songstress Asha Bhosle, this high-design spicehouse offers a respite to curryphiles tired with gormless tikka and eager for a slice of innovation with their biriani. Bhosle groupies will go weak-kneed at the Bollywood memorabilia tacked to the pastel walls and boozehounds rejoice at the legendarily fierce cocktails: we were suitably impressed by both and tucked into a brace of Delhi Devils with gluttonous abandon.

In an unusual move we’d brought a celebrity reviewer with us: Alan Yentob, Director of Drama and Entertainment at the BBC and creator of ‘Have I Got News For You.’ In town on holiday with his family, he was more than happy to come critiquing on the Time Out ticket, especially after we’d promised him a curry. We dallied with a nest of poppadoms loaded with chutney and picked his brains about the Hutton enquiry.

Our gin-fuelled chat was broken by a flock of liveried waitpeople, eager to unload assorted starters. We adored the light samosas filled with fluffy goat’s cheese, cut with smoky pistachio and drizzled in chunky tomato pickle. Hot on their filo heels came a papdi chaat, a slab of savoury vermicelli aided and abetted by flash-fried pastries and fragrant mash, and some toothsome matar potato cutlets rammed with nutmeg and puréed peas. Perked by this opening salvo of dishes, we quizzed Alan on the Angus Deayton affair and sank yet deeper into our velour-trimmed couches.

Having demolished a straightforward rogan josh and a specialty kebab platter loaded with sweet blackened chicken, we set our butter nans to work on some strips of pinkish duck breast. These achingly tender morsels came trimmed with curried chickpeas and grilled apricot and splashed about with a honey and red wine jus that brought sated grins to our masala-lined cheeks. Our opinion of the place was nudged towards the stratospheric by a set of jheenga shan prawns, charred in the tandoor and married with a punchy cheese and cardamom mix.
After whipping through slices of deep-fried bread in sweetened milk and an ultra-subtle rosewater pannacotta, the Yentob undercover critic crew declared themselves convinced. In a city packed to the rafters with Indian restaurants, Asha’s stands out for its setting, its musical theming and its imaginative mastery of the spicy arts. Don’t worry if you can’t persuade a jetsetting media mogul to come – you’ll have fun whoever you take.

By Rob Orchard