Asha at a food festival in Mumbai. (AFP file picture)

London, Feb. 13: An Indian restaurant chain in the UK to which Asha Bhosle apparently wants to lend her name will be successful only if the 71-year-old singer is on hand personally to greet guests every night, food industry experts warned today.

A British entrepreneur, Russell Scott, who ran a successful fish and chip franchise called Harry Ramsden, now wants to repeat the experiment with Indian food, it was reported today.

Reports also said that Scott had secured Bhosle?s agreement in opening a chain of 40 Indian restaurants across Britain.

It is acknowledged that Scott is a serious player and that Bhosle, who has a 20 per cent stake in Asha?s in Dubai and Kuwait, may well be tempted to dip her toe in what on the surface appears a flourishing UK ethnic food market.

Several Asians have become multi-millionaires ? ?curry kings? and ?curry queens? in tabloid parlance ? through the rapid expansion of the Indian food market in Britain.

Today, Britain has an estimated 8,000 restaurants and takeaway establishments serving Indian food. They range from humble takeaways, staffed by Bangladeshi workers, to upmarket restaurants where a largely English clientele is happy to pay ?80-100 for a meal for two.

Scott, who was managing director of Scottish & Newcastle?s branded pubs division before the sale to Spirit Group last year, plans to open the first restaurant within the M25 motorway ring around London by next spring, before building a chain throughout the UK and Ireland.

According to Scott, ?there are a lot of pasta chains out there but we don?t have an Indian restaurant chain. The UK market is ready to move on from the traditional fare. These restaurants are not aimed at people who want a cheap curry and beer?.

Bhosle herself is on record as saying: ?Indian food has many different tastes and the spices need to be experienced at leisure.?

She added that particular attention would be paid to vegetarian dishes.

If she were to appear in person and be seen to be doing the cooking herself, say on television rather in the manner of Madhur Jaffrey, it is just possible that Indians will flock to her restaurant to catch a glimpse of the diva. Interest in the food would probably be incidental.

Bhosle is not the first person from the film industry to believe the Bollywood magic could be used to start a chain of restaurants. Salman Khan toyed with the idea for a while but it came to nothing.

The nearest link to Bollywood is at a Mayfair restaurant called Yatra where the basement is painted with murals of films stars.

The restaurant holds regular ?Bollywood nights? to attract Asian youngsters who are drawn as much by the noisy music as the chance of meeting potential partners.

Peter Grove, an Englishman who has written books on Indian food, judged numerous curry competitions and kept an eye on the ethnic food scene in Britain for many years, said: ?Russell Scott made his name with the fish and chip scene. He is an entrepreneur rather than someone who knows about Indian food.?

He said that as far as he knew not one Indian restaurant had so far been opened by Scott, nor had any chefs or staff been taken on. Scott was also inaccurate in insisting there were no other chains.

?The Agra chain in Yorkshire has 13 and another group, the Harlequin chain, has quite a few,? Grove pointed out to The Telegraph.

Another difficulty for any chain was that experts disagreed on what was authentic. ?Punjabi food in Glasgow is different from Punjabi food in Birmingham,? he said.

Grove?s understanding was that Bhosle would be a sleeping partner, ?lending only her name?.

?She may come for an opening but I don?t know whether her music engagements would allow her to do more,? speculated Grove.

?I wish them luck but so far I have not seen evidence of even the first restaurant,? commented Grove, who is doubtful whether the venture will work or even be launched.