We’ve heard of currying favor, but this is ridiculous. Kanye West is set to cater a business meeting in New York with an Indian meal, prepared at the British Raj restaurant in Wales, and imported across the Atlantic for the low low price of $3,900. Via AP:
If Kanye West were to walk into the British Raj’s dining room and order dinner, it would cost the rapper about $17.50. But since the restaurant is delivering ? from Wales to New York ? it’s going to cost a bit more.For a feast of onion bhajees, chapati breads, biryanis, pappadums, a specially prepared fish dish and vegetables on the side, the bill will top $3,900, plus travel and accommodation for the restaurant’s head chef.
…
The meal will be prepared, cooled, shrink-wrapped and packed in dry ice in the British Raj’s kitchens and ? along with head chef Kaysor Ahmed ? will be helicoptered from Wales to London’s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.
From there, the chef is to hop a flight to New York ? monitoring the food’s temperature all the way ? clear customs, and head for Manhattan, where the meal is to be served during a meeting Wednesday.
The fee was arrived at by estimating the restaurant’s takings for two evenings, the time Ahmed will be away, Mohammed said.
That’s approximately a 223% really really big markup. Must be nice to have money and do completely retarded things with it! We know a thing or two about Indian food at Stereogum and sure, a good plate of saag aloo, a little daal, and some tandoori chicken with a nice samosa to start may seem priceless, but it all can be yours for under $35 at Banjara on the corner of 6th and 1st in the East Village (which we highly recommend, by the way — best bang for your rupee in Manhattan, along with the Punjabi Grocery on Houston between 1st and A). Have Indian restaurant recommendations for West that hit a little closer than the UK? Feel free to up Kanye’s naan knowledge.
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stick to the music, not the math. $3900 is about 223 times $17.50, not a 223% mark up. more like a 22300% markup.
hip hop hates melody AND local indian food?
what a shame.
no way is any place on 6th better than what you get in Jackson Heights (granted, it may be more convenient).
Kashmir on Newbury St. in Boston. Wednesday all you can eat lunch buffet will rock you.
kanye west doesn’t care about black people.
I remember Mariah has transported her dog/cat halfway around the world too. Poor dog.
Also, did Bono do something like that too? It might have been food in that case also.
And we wonder why the terrorists hate us.
r u kidding!!!
INDIAN BUFFET on Bleeker between Macdougal and Sullivan.
7 days a week till 4pm (i think)..
9 bucks!
easily the best bang for your rupee in Manhattan
Now go bang your stomach with indian food!
Bono paid $1800 to have his hat flown first class
And people are supposed to feel bad about downloading albums?
Would have been cheaper and more authentic if it was delivered from India directly.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Montreal …
Arcade Fire debate the ethics of putting a video game on its expense account.
I say we put chutney on it!
we eat KFC down in bama. and i think it’d cost 33 dollars to have KFC flown here from london. maybe 37 if i wanted mashed potatoes
didn’t mariah sell her dog to china? i wonder what happened to that dog…
This is no time for joking oversize vindaloo sandwich.
uh… beat me to it.
all i can do is reiterate. kanye definitely doesn’t care about black people.
true fu.
if he did, he would prolly send 4K to katrina relief funds and get new york takeout like someone with the sense of a GED-holder.
what kindof business decisions are made after someone makes the decision of spending a needless 4k extra for lunch?
too bad he was a college dropout.
I like Angon on 6th street myself. Chicken Dopeaja, Achar Gosht, Halim…
I couldn’t believe when I heard this story! I live about 2 minutes from the Raj and I wouldn’t travel that far to eat there lol
Apparently Snoop Dogg ate there a few months ago and recommended it to Kanye… I’m guessing Snoop was baked off his face at the time coz that’s the only way the Raj would taste good
Milon and Panna II on 1st and 6th were always my faves, if only for the battle of the hosts, each guy begging you into their restaurant.
he spends money on this? while people are starving? isn’t he supposed to be all ‘conscious’ and everything? you know, wasn’t he supposed to be hip and plugged-in and conscientious and knowledgable? and he does this shit?
fuck him and his records. never again.
In the year 2000- The world will learn that Kanye ordered all of this food not to satisfy his hunger, but rather as “research” for a Bhangra remix of “Diamonds from Seria Leone” entitled: “Chutney from Kaysor Ahmed”
Ok, now I you guys force me to defend Kanye again…
First off, how many stars like this pull incredibly illogical moves (yet incredibly ritzy) moves like this all the time. All we have to do is look at most major label music stars backstage requests. If stereogum reported every major stars requests we would be complaining left and right about celebrity spending habits. We wouldn´t read nearly as much indie news. And guess what? It is totally futile to get outraged over rappers spending habits. Jay-Z is ten times as rich as Kanye (please don´t take that statement as fact, armchair critics) And he is always looking to get more, from his Budweiser Select endorsements to his pairing up with Fallout Boy and Linkin Park. And I´m sure you can go to town on Jay-Z´s spending habits.
People, Kanye is a dick. We all knew this. He is like the Gallagher Brothers of hip-hop. But he is a great producer and despite his subpar rapping he has made two very good albums and might make a third. In the end it should all be about the music. Most people that are as rich as Kanye are egomaniacs. He is on top of the world. He went from being a relatively obscure producer that did some great work on the Blueprint to one of the biggest names in hip-hop, without being a particularly good rapper. Stop hating.
He´s stratled the line between consciousness and cliche his whole career. That´s part of his genius. As with Nas, Jay-Z, every mainstresm reapperwe know and respect. You can´t knock Kanye any more than the other giants of hip-hop that you all know and like. Face it.
i will puke my chutney all over the place if i ever see kanye doing some sort of environmental/green benefit…
OH YES FOR MILON BANGLADESH AND PANNA II…best place(s) ever! especially with those absurd lights!
his behind the music is going to be the best
Totally agree with Evan, as I started reading this, I thought the post was gonna say it cost Kanye $500,000 to get indian food made from real indian people or something of that sort. Your average small-time legislator from any country you can think of spends more than $3,900 on a strip club weekly.
Wow, stars amaze me. Because of people like Kanye West people should be able to download at least the hit singles. Besides, don?t most artists make the majority of their money from concerts anyway? I love music, don?t get me wrong, but there are many people in this world who are far more talented(at music and other things) and make no money.
Kanye West – spoilt only child.
Just further proof that hip hop is going down the drains and the few “conscious” rappers are getting hung up on the same shit as everyone else. He should have died in that car crash. The only good beat he ever gave us was Get By and maybe Lucifer ( but it’s easy to make a good beat out of that because the original by Max Romeo and the Upsetters is so good to begin with.)
First off, Zach C., I clicked on your blog and it looks like you know a fair deal about music. So kudos.
But, the Blueprint kicks ass. And as I stated before, he was never a conscious rapper. Even on the College Dropout he has songs degrading women left and right. And they are all doing it. Mos Def has a GMC commercial, for christsakes. But obviously we aren´t going to agree on Kanye. But anyway, if you are into soul music check out soulsides. It´s beyond awesome.
I’m going to have to apologize to Kanye, apparently the rumors were false:
http://www.shoutmouth.com/index.php/news/6149
Guess the haters will now have to find a different reason to dismiss Kanye.