I have decided that I would like to try some new spots in Long Beach; of course I have my favorites but I know there are tons of restaurants I have yet to try. So when a girlfriend suggested Asha for a midweek dinner, I decided to follow through on my plan and said yes. She had also never been there, so we thought it would be fun. I got on the Internet right away to check out their menu and to see what I thought they might be able to make without garlic, due to my allergy, and it seemed like I wouldn’t have too tough of a time. Another plus was that you can bring your own bottle of wine and they don’t have a corkage fee—it seems like this has changed a few times so you might want to call first to check, but lucky for us we were able to get that deal.
We arrived around 7:00PM, and it was much busier than I had expected, but we were greeted and seated right away. My friend Robin and I were immediately impressed when we walked in. It is a large space that looks very modern; those plastic see-through chairs are a favorite of mine and they were actually much more comfortable than I was expecting.
After looking over the menu, and with our server being really helpful with my allergy, we decided to start with flash-fried cauliflower, served with pine-nuts, tahini sauce and pita bread ($5.75). The sauce was the only problem for me since it has garlic, but Robin seemed to really like it. The fried cauliflower didn’t need much though in my opinion; it was crunchy and had the perfect blend of seasoning. I loved it. If all vegetables were this good I’m sure I would be a lot healthier—the portion size was large enough for us to snack on it before and also throughout dinner. I know that when I go back I would definitely want to start with that again.
By this time our bottle had been corked and our server stopped by every now and then to refill our glasses; it was great. We also shared the Asha salad ($6.25). This salad was very fresh: a generous serving of diced cucumbers, roma tomatoes, and avocados tossed with onions, cilantro, fresh lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil. You can’t go wrong if you want something light to start your meal.
When it came to dinner, I had a tough time deciding what I wanted to order, so I let Robin go first. She had the falafel sandwich ($5.25). The falafel patties are served with tomato, parsley, wild cucumber pickles, turnips, lettuce and tahini sauce. I couldn’t taste this but she said she liked it, but it was smaller than others she has had. She did order two more to-go though, so that has to say something. Hope her family enjoyed those; they did look really good.
I decided to have the couscous ($10.99). Couscous is a staple food throughout Morocco that I have just recently fallen in love with. I decided to have their veggie couscous—it had lots of carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, and potatoes. At first bite it was a little dry and bland; I asked the server about it, and she offered me some more of the soup stock that the vegetables were cooked in, and it made the dish 100x better. The broth was flavorful but delicate, and really made this dish something I would recommend. The serving was so large that I only had half and then saved the rest for my husband who also really loved it, but he thought it just needed some protein, so if you agree then you should order the couscous with beef; I’m sure that would be delicious also.
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