Temptations galore on the shelf
Sweet Tooth
Started in 1951 as Agra Sweets by late Kantha Prasad Garg, who hailed from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, it has catered to the taste buds of many sweet lovers for 57 years.
The place is now called Asha Sweets and is located in Malleswaram. It is being looked after by his son Narendra Kumar and grandson Krishna.
"We make more than 100 varieties of sweets, specialising mainly in kaju and badam. Even elaborate Bengali sweets are available here," says Krishna. The cold Badam Milk is a favourite during summers.
They also have festival specialities where they make special sweets only during those festivals. Gunjiya and Chappanbhog are made during Sankranti, Gunjiya is made again during Holi. Modaka and Holige are made for Ganesha Chaturthi and different types of Mathri and Ghewar are made during Raksha Bandhan. They also have packed gift boxes containing a wide variety of sweets and dry fruits readily available.
"We don't want to keep anyone from eating sweets. So we came up with the idea of making sweets for diabetic patients," says Krishna. They offer regular sweets like Sohan Papdi, Milk Burfi, Gulab Jamoon and Jahangir for diabetic patients. But on special orders, they also make other sweets.
"I love sweets. As I'm diabetic, it is very difficult for me to hold back the urge to eat sweets. Ever since, I came to know that Asha Sweets makes sweets for diabetic patients, I indulge in my sweet tooth fearlessly," says Shiv Ram, an industrialist, who is a frequent visitor to the shop.
Sweets are not the only thing they specialise in. They also make short-eats like vegetable samosa, vegetable roll, chilli dhokla and spring rolls. The rolls are very famous among the college crowd.
They also make mixtures like dry fruit mixture and khatta-Meetha mixture along with the other usual varieties. "I like spicy food and I worship their samosas," says Vishakha, a student. "I come here very often after college along with my friends and we gorge on the rolls and 'dhoklas'," she adds.
The shop has fans all over the City. Due to this, it has opened branches in Gandhi Bazaar and on K G Road opposite Sagar Theatre.
The sweet shop also has a hotel attached to its brand called Foodcamp, which is also in Malleswaram. Along with gaining new customers everyday, they have maintained some of their old ones even now, some as old as 40 years. Even though they may have shifted out of the area, they still come back to buy the sweets.
"My relatives reside in Malleswaram and every time I visit them, they offer me the Asha specialities. I like the Kaju Burfi, Rasmalai and Special Mixture very much," says
Rohini, a resident of Jayanagar. "Now that Asha has opened another outlet in Gandhi Bazaar, I don't have to come all the way to buy sweets," she adds.
