Bar Asra isn’t about cuisine—it’s about ingredients

I’ll be honest: when I hear the term “global cuisine,” I am immediately suspicious. It’s not so much that I don’t think a restaurant can have influences from around the world—it’s more that describing a menu as “globally-inspired” often feels like something that a chef or restaurateur says when they don’t have a fully honed vision. It’s a catch-all, and it’s usually devoid of meaning.

Not so with South Granville’s Bar Asra.

Here, intriguingly, the type of cuisine on offer is very much secondary. “Global,” acts as a way for executive chefs and owners Kanwar Ahluwalia and Baldeep Singh (also the team behind Surrey’s Sirka Gourmet Takeout) to make whatever they want based on the ingredients that are local and in-season.

Of course, it’s no longer particularly unique to build a menu based on locally-sourced produce. But what I find interesting about Bar Asra is that it uses that locally-sourced produce literally however it wants, with seemingly no through-line. Italian? Vietnamese? Indian? Thai? Yemeni? It’s all on the menu in some form or another. And while it doesn’t make a ton of cohesive sense, in this case it doesn’t have to. If you’re going to go loose with your concept, your food had better be able to stand alone—and Bar Asra’s does.

“I always wanted to do something with a global perspective, not to do with one particular cuisine,” Ahluwalia says. “This is an amalgamation of all the places that I’ve worked at, the people I’ve worked with, the places I’ve travelled.”

Bar Asra opened in April at 1480 West 11th. Ahluwalia and Singh had previously operated a straight-ahead Indian restaurant in the space, but something wasn’t quite landing with the neighbourhood. Then fate stepped in.

“It was a blessing in disguise: we had a sewer backup, which shut us down completely,” says Ahluwalia, “and then gave us the opportunity to be able to reimagine and re-explore the concept.”

Bar Asra is the amalgamation of Ahluwalia’s past cooking and eating experiences. Born in India, he spent many years working for various restaurants within Taj Hotels, and also cooked at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. Upon moving to Canada in 2012, he worked as a banquet chef for the Fairmont Lake Louise and then the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Along the way, his travels took him to food-focused destinations including Thailand, France, and Italy.

When I ask him how he put together Bar Asra’s debut menu (it will change every season, with certain fresh-sheet dishes rotating even more regularly), Ahluwalia points to an item from the appetizer section.

A popular Yemeni snack, Murtabak is a small, pan-fried flatbread typically stuffed with minced meat or vegetables. But at Bar Asra, it takes on a Western twist with cheese and jalapeno.

“When I go to a bar, I personally enjoy jalapeno poppers,” Ahluwalia explains. “I took that concept of murtabak and formulated it in a way where it looks like murtabak, but it tastes like jalapeno poppers.”

Or there’s the ahi tuna crudo, which gets its inspiration not from Italy but from Thailand. When Ahluwalia was visiting the country, he fell in love with crispy rice salad, which is made with leftover rice from the night before.

“I loved that salad while I was there,” he says. “Traditionally, they use pork in the salad—but we are fortunate enough to be sitting on amazing seafood here, so I replaced that pork with tuna.”

The crudo dish sees thin slices of ahi tuna paired with small crispy balls of fried rice and a standout citrus and chili pepper sauce. It’s bold and bright, with just the right amount of heat.

The beef roast is another standout: instead of being served with mashed potatoes and gravy, tender cubes of roasted meat are served with jasmine rice and a fried egg, all topped with a Vietnamese sweet and sour sauce. It sounds simple, and it is: but it’s the kind of thing I know I’ll return for.

“The dishes were taken out of my food memory,” says Ahluwalia, “and then recreated based on where we are.”

When it comes to drinks, bar manager Matthew Locke has dreamed up a similarly eclectic menu. The Kuala Lumpur Jungle Bird is a fun riff on a tiki cocktail, incorporating rum that’s been used to sous vide dates, and Taiwanese pineapple liqueur instead of pineapple juice.

Or there’s the Porto Spritz: a refreshing mix of white Port, cucumber tonic, and housemade celery shrub (I’m calling it now: this is the cocktail of the summer).

So, sure: Bar Asra is “global.” It’s not any one cuisine. It’s not a clearly defined menu. But who cares? The food is incredibly tasty. Sometimes that’s all you need to know.