Blog | When Tom Cruise Showed Up At 'Asha's'

Updated: Apr 12, 2026 17:37 pm IST Published On Apr 12, 2026 17:31 pm IST Last Updated On Apr 12, 2026 17:37 pm IST

Published On Apr 12, 2026 17:31 pm IST

Last Updated On Apr 12, 2026 17:37 pm IST

It was August 21, 2021. The world was still recovering from the Covid pandemic and restaurants had barely started doing regular business. So, you can imagine how surprised the staff of Asha's, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Birmingham (one of six owned by Asha Bhosle, the singing legend and passionate cook), must have been when Tom Cruise, dressed in a Henley-style round-necked, full-sleeved tee, jeans and bombardier jacket, casually walked in with his entourage, bodyguards and all, which included Mission: Impossible writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie.

Cruise was in Birmingham shooting for Dead Reckoning: Part One, the seventh installment of the multi-billion-dollar Mission: Impossible franchise, and he left the Asha's staff gobsmacked when he asked for a second Chicken Tikka Masala (CTM) after finishing the first – and he wanted the spice quotient to be amped up for this one.

“The greatest compliment,” said the chuffed restaurant in an Instagram post. The CTM was not all that Cruise loved at Asha's. He also had – and relished – the Palak Paneer, but at the Birmingham restaurant he will always be remembered as “two tikka........

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