GAJA by Sashi Launch

I was very lucky to be invited to the launch of Gaja by Sashi. Since his win for Masterchef last year, Sashi has had a dream of opening a restaurant to showcase his skills and passion. With the food drawing it’s flavours from a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian food, you are seriously in for a treat with this delicious menu filled with absolutely flavour filled dishes. The restaurant will be opening for lunch and dinner every day besides Sunday, and is located on Pirie Street.

​Sashi has an amazing team behind him, from his Head Chef to his staff, they are a strong team who have come together and brought to life one of his dreams. Another really beautiful thing about this restaurant is the passion Sashi has to help and rehabilitate ex-prisoners by helping them get into the hospitality industry and give them a second chance; his passion for this is also shown in the back corner of his space where there are bird cage chairs and a wonderful painting of a bird flying out of a cage. ​ To open and launch this night, Sashi had organised for a traditional dance and it was absolutely beautiful. I only wish I got better footage of it for all of you to witness!

Now let’s talk about the food; as you may or may not be aware, I as a person.. am very bad at handling any food that has even the slightest of spice. But the biggest issue with this is that I LOVE spicy food, I love the taste and the aromas and flavours; it’s just that my body and soul are weak so everything I put into my mouth with spice makes me sweaty. ​

I am not know to quit when it comes to food, and I knew I was in for a long night when the first delicious chicken Pakoda I put into my mouth hit me with a little spice punch. This chicken was perfectly crispy and still moist and tender, with fantastic flavours and it was probably just a normal amount of spice for people but for someone like me I am clearly awful at life. That said, I couldn’t stop eating them and I had to eventually stop because my nose was running (TMI probably)

The Beef Satay Degang was another absolute winner, (well every dish was a winner lets just make that clear) perfectly cooked beef and a heavenly sauce these little skewers were disappearing faster than you could even grab them. We were also treated to Ma Hor (Sticky Pork and Prawn, Peanut, Pineapple, Lime Leaf, Chilli) and two other dishes which for the life of me I cannot remember the names of (AND I AM SO SORRY!) but they were both incredibly enjoyable and packed with flavour. ​ With so many other dishes such as the Kiri Hodi, Begun Bhaja, Goan Massala and much more, I absolutely cannot wait to return to Gaja to enjoy more flavourful food, cry from the spice and have a runny nose everywhere – but it is honestly worth every single spice hit.

Also if you’re lucky and ever get the chance to meet Sashi, he is such a beautiful angel with a heart of gold.

Thanks again to the beautiful ladies at Girl about Town for the invitation; truly so lucky.