THE FLAVOUR Dan Houmann, Dave Michelson, Jamie Goddard, Mike Whyatt, and Andrew Frazer, with a cook at the Famous Curry Garden restaurant.
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curry A club of international aficionados comes to North America with a new Nova Scotian chapter
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efore 2016, Dan Houmann had never tried curry. He grew up in a small city in Denmark that had traditional pizzerias and Chinese restaurants, but no curries. Then he moved to Hong Kong and a friend introduced him to the bold flavours. “I loved it right from the start,” laughs Houmann. “If I could, I would live on curry alone.” As it turned out, Houmann’s friend’s brother had started a club in the U.K. called the Oakham Curry Club (OCC), which has become one of the world’s most respected reviewers of Indian cuisine. Members meet once a month to “relentlessly scour the globe in pursuit of the
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crispiest poppadoms, the tastiest sauces, and spiciest curries” (according to their website), critiquing and rating curry restaurants. They publish their findings online, and have chapters in the U.K., China, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. “I was quite intrigued to learn more,” says Houmann. “So we set up a meeting at a local curry house.” Soon after, Houmann was one of the founders of an OCC chapter in Hong Kong. “We started out with four people in Hong Kong and by the time I left in 2019, we had 30 members in that branch,” he recalls. “Then, when I moved to Paris, I planned to set up an OCC there as well, but COVID happened.
BY LORI McKAY PHOTOS BY BRUCE MURRAY/ VISIONFIRE
And now I’m in Canada. It was only fitting that we start a local branch here.” Houmann’s wife is from Nova Scotia. They met in Hollywood 12 years ago and spent several years travelling around the world. They now have a three-year-old and were ready to give up apartment living and decided to move back to Canada last summer. “I love Halifax,” says Houmann. “We’ve been here on and off the last few years and have family and friends here, so it was always in the cards for us once our big city adventures were over.” The Nova Scotia OCC had its first meeting in January. Houmann says it took some time to get things up and running, as there
