The flight to Heathrow would take 45 minutes

American rapper Kanye West's publicist has turned his nose up at the idea that the star was expecting a Welsh curry.

It follows days of media coverage of the story that the rapper had ordered a �2,000 takeaway from Newport, south Wales.

The fish banquet actually left a golf course by helicopter bound for Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon.

But West's spokesman said the star was not even in New York where the food was being flown to.

A fax had been sent to the British Raj restaurant, in Rogerstone, requesting the curry.

It read: "Shaun Jackson is meeting Kanye West and his people for dinner to discuss his coming to the UK in the near future, 1st of June to be exact."

The restaurant prepared the feast and it was dispatched on Tuesday lunchtime by helicopter.

It was chef Kaysor Ahmed's first flight in a helicopter

But later in the day, West's publicist denied any meeting was planned and the star was filming in Los Angeles.

When asked for an explanation, Shaun Jackson's business partner Allan Shepard said he did not know where the suggestion they were meeting with the star had come from.

He said the story had been built up to be more than it was: "It's no big thing really. My company does a lot of events for celebrities.

"Shaun Jackson is going out to meet with Kanye's people. I don't know where that came from that it was with Kanye."

BBC in New York had spoken to West's publicist, Gabe Tesoriero, and his manager in the US, Don Crawley, who also claimed there was no meeting planned with West.

It is believed the Newport restaurant has already received payment for the food.