Indian Curry Facts

1. Curry is Officially the UK’s favourite dish, with the British invented Tikka Masala being on top of the list.

2. It’s amazing, 18 tonnes of chicken Tikka Masala is eaten across the UK each week. That’s equivalent to more than the weight of 3 double decker buses.

3. Korma doesn’t actually mean Mild, instead it’s the word that represents the slow cooking of the dish.

4. Over 2.5 million UK customers buy curry every week

5. The word Balti translates as Bucket. But don’t worry your food isn’t cooked in a bucket, the dish is originally from Baltistan in Pakistan

6. The first ever British curry restaurant was opened in 1809 in London’s Portman Square and it was called Hindustani Coffee House.

7. For every 1 Chinease restaurant there are 2 Indian restaurants in the UK.

8. The UK spends £3.2 billion pounds on Indian food.

9. In the UK two thirds of our meals are made up of Indian Food.

10. There are more Indian restaurants in London then Bombay and Delhi put together.

We’ll be adding more curry facts and information in the future, if all this reading about curry has got you hungry then remember to order your Indian Takeaway in SS14 from Maharajas Express.

Locomotive Themed Indian Takeaway Basildon

As usual I was feeling hungry and seeing as it was a Friday night I decided to pick up the stash of takeaway menus that have nested on my doormat.

I casually went through the pile lookingfor something that caught my eye and I came across a rather adventurous looking Indian takeaway menu. It was from an Indian Takeaway in Basildon called the Maharaja’s Express Indian Takeaway.
The menu design was themed in an Indian locomotive style, similar to the actual Maharajas Express train in India.

Once I opened the menu, I was welcomed by the fact that I wasn’t bombarded with a gazillion dishes to choose from, and I was equally impressed by the design inside and the fact that the curry’s where
not just named by their usual names, but had the location of where the curry came from.

Excited by the sounds of a British Tikka Masala, I hurried along to grab my mobile and make an order. The lad that answered took my order in a very express fashion and my food arrived in about 30minutes.

My British Tikka Masala and pilau rice with a starter of King Prawn Butterfly was absolutely delicious, so I’ll definitely be eating from Maharajas Express again.

I also must mention, their websites really cool as well so please check it out. Indian Takeaway Basildon

Long time no Tuk Talk

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned my Tuk Tuk build. I guess the New Year’s kept me busy.

Let’s talk about Tuk Tuks in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the little country held in a headlock by India and its where my family are from and the first place I got to ride in a Tuk Tuk. In Bangladesh they have 2 types of Tuk Tuks, the first is the classic black and yellow tuk tuk which most like to modify themselves often with flashing lights and musical chimes for when they click the indicators that sound a lot like musical cards. The second type is the fourstroke tuk tuk which comes in a mucky green colour and is larger in size. Come to think of it there is a third type, which is a larger tuk tuk which can carry groups of people, almost like a mini bus tuk tuk.



I think Bangladesh really has everything to offer when it comes to tuk tuks, but one thing Bangladesh doesn’t have is its own online car parts shop, but hey maybe one day.

Give mother nature a hug

My year has started with another idea to make my TukTuk the best ever!

I have decided that we’ve blown enough smoke in Mother Nature’s face; it’s time to go electric. The technology is there for cars and motor cycles to have electric engine. So I intend to find and modify one that will help my TukTuk be at peace with Mother Nature.



I’ve read there a few people trying to invent the Hybrid TukTuk, but I think I’m going all electric as that would make mine the ultimate world saving TukTuk.

Not interested in TukTuk parts like me? Then visit Essex Auto Parts for Genuine car parts online.

Air-Con not required… heating yes please!

There’s no surprise if I say winter is already here, I drove to work in my normal car today and I felt the need to wear my coat, gloves and ear muffs. As I drove I realised that my dreams of building a TukTuk begun in summer and all my experiences of traveling in a TukTuk were done in countries where even with the open sides I could feel the heat going right through me. So it’s clear, I forgot to keep in mind that it gets cold here in Great Britain and unlike in the hot countries where a fan or some sort of air-con would be nice in a TukTuk, here in Britain air-con is not required. But I’ll definitely need to find me some super heaters to keep me warm through my winter tuktuk adventures.

Just in case my super heaters don’t work and I get stranded, maybe I’ll get myself a car emergency kit and a big fleece coat to keep me safe and warm while I get rescued.

Tuk Tuk Evolution – Survival of the biggest

From my travels to the eastern parts of the world, I remember a rule on the roads in Bangladesh that I suppose applies in the UK as well. But our approach in the UK isn’t as aggressive as I saw in Bangladesh.

To drive in Bangladesh, you must learn how to do road rage. It’s all a part of driving, you must also toot your horn more than you press the accelerator and learn how to ignore every colour of the traffic light, especially as the local electricity tends to cut out around 4pm from overheating, at which point there are no street lights let alone traffic lights.

The rule in particular I’m talking about is the survival of the biggest rule. In the UK we call it giving priority to larger vehicles. In Bangladesh, if you are a Coach or TaTa Truck, then the road is officially yours and you can speed up behind cars and literally force them to move over, in return the cars aim for the wonderful Tuk Tuks which luckily are not the end of this chain, the Tuk Tuk crew get to push around motorbikes and Rickshaw riders. And if you thought that it ends there, then you’re wrong. The rickshaw drivers have the task of getting the sheer number of human traffic to stay out their way. So in a way if the truck didn’t start the chain off, we would have roads full of people trying to walk over each other.

So all this brings me to my latest addition to my future Tuk Tuk build, I will need a warning triangle and possibly a in car First Aid Kit. I found a great deal at www.essexautoparts.co.uk, they have 25% off their First Aid Kits and good deals on other car safety products.

iTuk Connections

So, I was thinking ahead and as usual dreaming of my future with my Tuk Tuk and it hit me I haven’t included a very important factor into my Tuk Tuk build! A sound system and my I.C.E (In Car Entertainment)

I decided that having a really expensive sound system and possibly screens was a bad idea, seeing as my Tuk Tuk doesn’t really come with doors and there was no way I’d lose the authenticity of my Tuk Tuk by adding doors to it.

The solution was simple, I stick my itouch in there, which holds all my crazy head bangers and conveniently has a screen I can watch my downloaded movies on. So off I went to my trusty search engine and typed in in-car iPod connector and up came a million results and before I knew it I got my iTuk connections ready to roll.