Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup winning team visit Birmingham city centre Indian restaurant

Birmingham’s celebrity hotspot Indian restaurant Asha’s has hosted a raft of A-list celebrities at its tables over the years.

Ed Sheeran, Tom Cruise, The Roling Stones, and Aston Villa captain Steven Gerrard are just some of the star names to have dined at Asha’s Indian Restaurant in the city centre recently.

And the heroes from Villa’s 1982 European Cup winning team have become the latest stars to eat out at the Newhall Street establishment.

Approaching the 40 year anniversary of Villa’s historic European Cup win over Bayern Munich (26 May), the stars of the history-making ‘82 squad were pitchside at Villa Park on Sunday against Crystal Palace for pre-match celebrations where they returned at half-time for a lap of appreciation to mark the occassion.

Ahead of the game, the legendary 1982 players got together for a meal at Asha’s on Saturday night before the game (14 May).

‘They were great personalities’

After the squad dined at the Indian on Saturday, the restaurant’s general manager Nouman Farooqui, told BirminghamWorld: “They came in on Saturday evening and it was great.

“They were the best of that time and won the European Cup and we were delighted they chose to dine at Asha’s.

“They were all great personalities and they were all very friendly and loved the food.

“Most of them actually had never been to Asha’s before, some had been before like Gary Shaw - he comes and dines with us quite regularly, and they all loved the evening with us.”

Famous faces at Asha’s

The restaurant, which also has chains in Solihull and Manchester, is no stranger to famous faces, having hosted the likes of The Rolling Stones and Cliff Richard in the past.

In recent years, a number of big names have passed through the doors of the curry house to enjoy some of the best Indian food the city has to offer.

Some of those star names include: all of the members of The Rolling Stones ( in 2017), Cliff Richard, cricketer Mike Gatting, Harry Redknapp, radio presenter Roman Kemp, presenter Jon Snow, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, singer Michael Bolton (in 2021) as well as boxing rivals Kell Brook and Amir Khan - who unsurprisingly weren’t there at the same time.

But perhaps Asha’s most famous guest was Tom Cruise, who stayed in Birmingham in August 2021, while he was filming the seventh installment of the Mission: Impossible film series.

The Hollywood star enjoyed the delicious Chicken Tikka Masala during his visit to Asha’s, and also stayed at The Grand Hotel during his time in the city.

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