ENGINES, check. FUEL, check. POPPADOMS, check. The hottest takeaway in town is set for take-off with an incredible new service based in Lancashire - the flying curry. Starting next month, biryanis, baltis and bhunas cooked in the city will be bombed all over the county as a new Flying Indian Restaurant allows punters to tuck into a curry among the clouds.

And the Citizen can exclusively reveal that the food for this incredible new service is to be prepared, where else, but in sleepy Bolton-le-Sands.

Meals will be cooked at the Far Pavilion restaurant every Sunday before being rushed, by chopperdom helicopter, to the plane waiting on the tarmac at Liverpool's airport.

The whole thing is the brainchild of pilot Mustafa Aolad who already operates one flying restaurant and an incredible dial-a-curry flying delivery service to the stars from Bournemouth.

He told the Citizen: "For £60 we will take people up in the plane, fly them over the Lancashire countryside at about 1,500 ft and then take them up to 17,000 ft before serving an excellent three-course Indian meal complete with champagne.

"This has been a great success down south so there is no reason why we can't do the same up here."

So why choose the Far Pavilion to cook the food? According to Mustafa, it's the best Bangladeshi food in the county and he's proved that by having the food secretly tested by colleagues over a few weeks.

Haroon Begh, who runs the restaurant, said: "This was as big a surprise to me as it was to anyone else and it should prove to be a great benefit to us. Mr Aolad said he chose us because we serve the best food and because our reputation is so good. That is nice to hear.

"I am really looking forward to being involved and the publicity will also come in handy."

Mustafa Aolad, formerly a pilot in the Bangladesh Air Force, is fast gaining a reputation among the rich and famous for his airborne curry delivery service.

Since getting it off the ground in 1992 he has taken curries from his South Coast base to Australia, Los Angeles and New York. Stars like Cliff Richard, Little and Large and even John Major have tucked into Mustafa's massalas.

To book a place on Mustafa's flying Sunday restaurant call Mick O'Brien at Emerald Airlines on 0151 448 0844.

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