LOHAT is one man’s quest to guard off a premature mid-life crisis, combining his love of writing with his love of curry.  The fact you have arrived here by googling the words ‘tandoori’ and ‘hope’ shows you are a person of a similar gastro-spiritual ilk. Soon, I will be leaving home and hitting the road, sampling curries from across the country. Seven years of dreaming, thinking and planning finally come to fruition in six weeks of good food and good friends.

So, who is this enigmatic Punjabi pioneer you talk of? If you click on the Author tab in the menu, you can find out all about the brave stomached man undertaking this mammoth task.  If you click on Book, you will get a world exclusive preview of Craig Hazell’s Land of Hope and Tandoori. Finally, if you would like to be kept completely up to date with LOHAT’s progress and the author’s latest ramblings from every major city in the UK then just have a cheeky click on Blog.

LOHAT will obviously produce a pretty handy point of reference for where to eat in every city in Britain. A lot of you have emailed asking if this is the reason behind this journey. For me, however, it’s a little more than that. All the best and worst moments and occasions of my life has been accompanied by a naan. When our old school friends got engaged, we went for a curry to celebrate. When I got that promotion, my closest friends congratulated me with a Cobra and when I was so heartbroken, I could barely leave my room, my best friend consoled me with a trip to our favourite Indian. Curry has been the social crux of my young life. When I think if going for a curry, I don’t think of what I’m going to order or whether to go for Keema or Pashwari naan. I think of all the laughs I’ve had, the lack of awkward silences, and the guarantee of fantastic company. I’ve chased that feeling, like someone trying to recapture a family holiday when they were 12, ever since. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have that feeling for six weeks? To see friends I’ve not seen for years in the best possible meeting place? The thought of bringing together groups of friends that would never have otherwise met, and making curry their social crux makes me salivate as much as the madras does. Wouldn’t those six weeks be the best I’ve ever had? I’m about to find out.

Curry lifts us up where we belong, curry is all you need, curry unites the classes.

Thanks for popping in,

Craig