Transatlantic trip for curry chef

The transatlantic food was ordered for a New York Event

A south Wales chef is hand-delivering a selection of 50 take away dishes specially ordered for a music event - in New York.

The India Kitchen in Cardiff's Birchgrove area is used to handling take away orders, but has never had to deal with such a long-distance request before.

The order came about because record producer Tony Matthews had been so impressed with the food at an event he organised nine years ago in this country that he tracked down the same chef - India Kitchen's Roman Moor - to use again.

First of all when he made the phone call we thought it was a hoax

Abdul Noor

The order was accompanied by a request to send Mr Moor along with the food to New York, which is costing the organisers about £1,500.

After his transatlantic journey, the chef will serve the food in New York on Tuesday evening before being flown back to Wales on Thursday.

A number of dishes on the menu will be specially prepared fish dishes particularly requested by Mr Matthews.

Surprise

Restaurant owner Abdul Noor admitted he was very surprised when he saw the faxed order had to be delivered to New York.

But they added up the cost of the food and travel for Mr Moor, sent it back, and it was accepted.

The chef has taken food to New York

The food was all prepared in the restaurant on Monday, before leaving on its 3,000 mile trek to the Big Apple.

He told BBC Radio Wales: "The chef had done a big banquet in London in 1993 with people like the Spice Girls and Naseem Hamed attending.

"At the time he was working for a very popular restaurant in London called Tiger Bay, and Tony Matthews got hold of them and they told him he worked in Cardiff now.

"First of all when he made the phone call we thought it was a hoax. But then he ordered 50 meals at £1,500.

"The fish which was ordered by Tony Matthews is not on the menu normally.

"It's a fish from Bangladesh - we bought the whole fish and cooked it at the restaurant."

After his lightning trip to New York, the chef will be back to reality on Friday, cooking his normal menu for the India Kitchen's regular customers.