SULTAN AL-MAHMOOD is preparing what could be the most expensive takeaway ever. The genuine Bangladeshi curry will be flown more than 4,000 miles to Barbados from the UK at a cost of about £3,000.
The special fish dish is being created by Mr al-Mahmood, who owns Essence restaurant in St Martin’s. He also runs curry houses in Jersey and Newmarket, Suffolk.
He is due to fly out to the Caribbean on Saturday to complete the presentation of the meal which has been ordered by Robi Singh, a rich businessman and fan of the Bangladesh cricket team, which played England in the World Cup yesterday. Some of the team, or officials, are expected to be among up to 15 diners who will eat the meal.
Two of Mr al-Mahmood’s head chefs will be joining him on the trip, including Essence’s Marup Ahmed.
The starter will be a fish kofta curry cooked by Mr al-Mahmood, while the main will be made up of boal fish, ayre fish and chingri.
‘It’s very exciting,’ said Mr al-Mahmood.
‘I have previously taken a meal to The Gambia in 1997 so I don’t think there should be any problems. It’s almost run-of-the-mill.
‘But this delivery has come at the best time for me because I’m from Bangladesh and I’m a massive cricket fan. Hopefully I’ll get a bit of time while I’m there to watch them play on the Sunday.’
Mr al-Mahmood, 34, who has owned Essence for five years, said he thought Mr Singh had heard about his reputation for catering for personalities in the pop world.
‘I have also done catering at the House of Commons and for the Nato force in Canada.
‘His friends in the UK got my telephone number and asked me whether it was possible. He asked me to take it to Guyana originally, but I said it would be easier to take the meal to Barbados because it’s less flying time.’
Mr al-Mahmood is due to fly out of the UK on Saturday and to serve the meal on Sunday - the day of Bangladesh’s final World Cup Super Eight match with Ireland. It will take him about 24 hours to prepare.
The total cost is about 10 times that of a similar meal in one of his restaurants.
‘I can imagine it’s probably caused a bit of a stir at the World Cup that someone has paid for a meal to be flown in, but I’m very happy and proud about it, especially that Marup my head chef is coming with me because he has done so much with me here for five years. It’s also good for Guernsey because there will be a lot of media attention.’
Article posted on 12th April, 2007 - 12.00am
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