Ashok Bajaj

Ashok Bajaj has owned and operated award-winning restaurants in London and the United States for over 25 years. He has opened several highly successful landmark restaurants in Washington, D.C. including The Oval Room and the four-star restaurant Rasika. His restaurants have been nominated for numerous James Beard Awards and are recognized as being among the best in the city. Bajaj and his restaurants have been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, Food & Wine, and the New York Times, among other places, and Rasika was named the #1 restaurant in the nation’s capital by The Washington Post in 2014. Vikram Sunderam opened Rasika along with Ashok Bajaj in December 2005 after working at the award-winning Bombay Brasserie for fourteen years, and as executive chef for eight of those years. His culinary artistry earned him the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic in 2014, among other accolades. Sunderam spearheads the kitchen at Rasika and Rasika West End.