AN INDIAN pop star is set to hire an Ipswich chef to do the catering for his airborne wedding.which will take place on an aircraft.

AN INDIAN pop star is set to hire an Ipswich chef to do the catering for his airborne wedding.

Salem Malik, who owns Indian restaurant Koh-i-Noor in Upper Orwell Street, has been asked to prepare two different menus for the wedding later this month, which will take place on an aircraft.

Today, pilot Mustafa Aolad will be flying from London to Elmsett Airfield to pick up a sample of Mr Malik's food. The dishes will then be flown to Sweden, where Alamin Khandaker is currently working, for him to approve them.

Mr Malik said: “I was very surprised when he rang me to do the food. There are loads of similar restaurants all over the UK but normally the fish dishes he wants contain loads of bones. I will be taking the bones out and can adapt dishes to what he wants.

“It is really good to think a pop star wants me to do the food for his wedding.”

Although Mr Khandaker, a member of a Bangladeshi pop group Chime, married 20 years ago, it has been a lifelong dream to marry in an aeroplane so he is splashing out for a second ceremony.

Around 100 well-wishers and close family members and friends will meet at the restaurant in Upper Orwell Street on the day of the wedding, September 27.

Six stretch limousines will then arrive to ferry the guests to the airport but only 30 guests will be invited onboard.

After an hour's flight, the guests will be taken back to the Koh-i-Noor restaurant for the reception.

Mr Malik has previously cooked for Mr Khandaker when he helped a friend in the kitchen at a restaurant in London. The pop star liked the food so much, that he tracked Mr Malik to Ipswich and asked him to do the catering for the event.

Later this month, Mr Malik is due to open another restaurant, called Jamil's Koh-i-Noor, in Crown Street, in memory of his son, Jamil, who died in April on a flight to Dubai.

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