Ashoka Bearsden boss Imtiaz Aslam was as surprised as anyone else at the volume of meals consumed on the day , but is now preparing to make Harlequin outdoor catering a regular feature at future similar high profile events.

The Mela saw 50,000 people converge on the park for a day of Bhangra music, fashion, arts and crafts, and thousands of them made a bee-line for the Harlequin catering tents, where a crack culinary team worked flat out to provide delicious pakoras, samosas, patooras, meat and vegetarian thali lunches.

The queues for the tents were long but also fastmoving, thanks to a culinary operation run with something like military precision.

''I thought we could do it, but I'm as surprised as anyone by just how great a success our catering operation was,'' said Imtiaz. ''We kept the costs low so that everyone would be encouraged to try some first class Ashoka fare, and we never stopped serving all day.'' He added: ''it wouldn't have been possible without my colleagues, head chef Dali, fellow franchisee Rajesh Saraf and the rest of the Ashoka team consisting of staff from Kama Sutra, Ashoka Bearsden, Masala Jaks and Ashoka at the Mill''.

''After this I'd say we're ready for anything and we are now looking forward to the next big event''..which happens to be catering for the Friendship Cup 1 day international cricket India vs Pakistan on 3rd July 2007 at the Clydesdale Cricket Club (all tickets now sold out).