|
National
Curry Week, sponsored this year by Cobra, was full of the usual fun
and frolics but none more widely enjoyed than the Longest Kebab World
Record Attempt by Café Spice Namaste in London.
The Sun
newspaper was on hand to watch top chef Cyrus Todiwala and his team
set out to create a new world record for the longest kebab.
The challenge
brought with it several problems such as where to cook a monster
kebab how to stop it breaking up. The kitchen team, led by Cyrus and
his longtime Head Chef Angelo, carried a dry run the night before and
then at lunchtime on the Friday of National Curry Week they set to
with blow torches and a long metal pipe.
Using the very
best organic lamb and liberal spicing, the five man team gradually
built the kebab around the piping, cooking it with the blow torches.
After about 45 minutes a kebab of some 8 feet had already been
produced but Cyrus wanted more. One problem! - the length of the pipe
had been reached so the team had to wiggle the pipe out without
breaking the kebab. Then the building began again and soon the width
of the room meant the team would have to call a halt otherwise they
would not be able to remove the pipe to claim the record.
After 1 hour
10 minutes a magnificent beast of a kebab was complete and with
infinite care the pipe removed. Cameras and eyes craned over the
tables as the tape measure stretched and stretched to read a
fantastic 428 cms or some 14 feet. But was it eadible. The Sun had
bought along their eating expert Lup to see if he could gobble the
monster down in one sitting but after 10 minutes and 1 metre 8 cms
into his mouth he had to call it a day whilst declaring the taste to
be fantastic. Within minutes everybody watching had claimed their
taste of the world record kebab and it was no more. Cyrus and his
team now go into the history books having helped immeasurably to
bring attention to National Curry Week and its aims.
Elsewhere,
other restaurants were doing their own thing. India Quay in Scotland
held a blind taste test that not only proved to be great fun but also
raised £433.90 for appointed charity Oxfam. The Polash in
Shoeburyness raised a fantastic £500 during the week, a figure
matched by the Aagrah Group despite being busy with their own annual event.
Tabaq in South
London have been one of the events staunchest supporters over the
year and this year was no exception raising £352.10. Saffron
Plaza in Steppingly was the first to send in a return with a cheque
for £140.00 and Philippa Morgan held a special curry birthday
party for husband Dec raising £300.00 which was matched by some
visiting American friends.
The National
Curry Week Prize Draw winners will now be announced at the end of
November to enable other participating restaurants to get their
returns in.
top
|
