Curry Delivery to Bordeaux...from a Restaurant in England

The Late Night Gourmet

Home kook
Staff member
Joined
30 Mar 2017
Local time
10:02 PM
Messages
5,547
Location
Detroit, USA
Website
absolute0cooking.com
For some people, there's nothing quite like the food from home. Here's a case where someone did something about that (reported January 13th):

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/158...pecial_curry_flight_from_Hampshire_to_France/

A BRITISH ex-pat curry addict who was missing his favourite spicy meal has arranged for a takeaway to be delivered to France.

Pilot James Emery, 31, who lives in the Bordeaux area, has organised the long-distance delivery with Faz Ahmed, the manager of the Akash restaurant in Southsea, Hampshire.

A total of 89 meals, 70 side dishes, 75 portions of rice, 100 poppadoms and 10 servings of mango chutney were prepared and packed on to an aircraft for the one-off flight to Bordeaux.

Mr Emery and the restaurant teamed up with the Iroise Aero Formation, a professional flying school based in Brest, to use a six-seater Socata TBM700 aircraft, capable at flying 300mph, for the flight.

The aircraft departed from Solent Airport in Lee-On-The-Solent, formerly known as HMS Daedalus naval air station, for Saucats Airfield, south of Bordeaux, where the meals will be reheated and served to the group of 89 curry-lovers.

Mr Emery, an aviation English assessor for French trainee pilots, will be eating his favourite curry, a spicy chicken phall.

He said: "I am a chilli addict and an aviation geek so I thought I would combine my two hobbies to get my favourite meal delivered to me in France.

"I have been getting withdrawal symptoms, they do lots of good things in France but you just can't get a good curry."

He added: "I have been a loyal customer of the Akash for close to 20 years.

"Every time I popped in for a meal, I would complain about the bland and uninspiring version of Indian food we get in France.

"It was on one of these visits that Faz first floated the idea of delivering one to me at home in Bordeaux."

Mr Ahmed said: "We thought about it for a long time, he has been coming into the restaurant for 20 years joking that the curries are really bad in France and asking for me to deliver one to me.

"We have done nothing like this, our delivery radius is three to four miles and we are doing 500 miles so it is something to be proud of."


He added: "Anyone with lots of money could do this but we want to make it affordable so that anyone could take part."

The customers were able to order from a selection of meals including chicken tikka massala, lamb balti, Bengal naga chicken and vegetable paneer korai with a vegetable side and naan included in the £32 price.

It is not the first time The Akash has catered for ex-pats missing its food in France.

In 2014 Roy Buchan took a selection of food across to France by ferry for his family's Christmas Day lunch.
 
Pilot James Emery, 31, who lives in the Bordeaux area, has organised the long-distance delivery with Faz Ahmed, the manager of the Akash restaurant in Southsea Hampshire.

My home town! Southsea is part of Portsmooth and the first curry I ever had was in Southsea. I had a bedsit in Southsea when I was an Undergrad. student.
 
I remember hearing a story about a woman from Yorkshire who had moved to Canada. She missed the curry she got at home and her family managed to fly out a curry from an Indian restaurant to her. Unfortunately, I can't find the story, but I definitely recall it happening.
I thought that might be the longest "delivery service" ever. As it turns out, it isn't. Not even close. Here's the story (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/76077-longest-curry-delivery):

The longest curry delivery, ordered by Jon Wise and James Crisp (both UK) was delivered over 18,830 km (11,701 miles) from Christchurch, New Zealand to Manchester, UK, where it arrived on 29 February 2008.

The order was placed at The Raj Mahal Restaurant in Christchurch, New Zealand and was a vegetable biryani and pilau rice. It was delivered to the Daily Sport offices in Manchester, UK. The distance is measured in a straight line.
I can't imagine how - or why - anyone would be able to exceed it.
 
A little extreme. I did bring some Louisiana delicacies with me when I visited my Brother in Colorado. Boudin, Andouille, Tasso, fresh pork sausage and a deboned spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken from my favorite market. Also Gumbo File Powder. While there I made Gumbo. Making a dark roux at 5,000 ft. was a trip. The usual recipe is one part APF to one part vegetable oil. I had to use two parts APF to 1 part oil.

When Brother and SIL visit they always bring home food and seasonings. Cheaper to pack and check a soft sided cooler with frozen food rather than have it shipped.
 
As the old adage says: " When in Rome, do as the Romans do " ..

The only food I truly miss while travelling and I do alot of travelling, are Tapas and recently, the Spanish immigration has included world wide cities, and the opening up of Spanish Tapa & Wine Bars ..
 
Back
Top Bottom