You have to love curry & cricket to join this club

MUMBAI: Among the few hundred supporters who turned up to cheer the English side at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, were 13 members of the Swansea Curry Club (SCC) from the UK. The spiritual home of the foodies is Swansea in south Wales where it was first formed although most members now live in London.
The bunch flew into the city en route to the inaugural Goa Curry Conference."We are all employed in various fields back home. It's our passion for cricket and food that brings us together,'' Peter Patel, one of the founding members of the club said. Incidentally, Peter has an Indian connection. His grandfather was born in Madras (Chennai). The members from the SCC spawn from 12 countries and across four continents. The club consists of over 60 active members.
They have visited restaurants in places as far and wide as France, Argentina, Turkey, Russia and Malaysia. Every restaurant visited is rated for quality of atmosphere, food and service using a custom made evaluation tool affectionately called "precious.''
Now, that Goa is on the world curry club map, when do we see Mumbai? "Very soon,'' Patel winked. In fact, the SCC did stop at the Khyber Restaurant at Fort and the group was quite stunned after seeing sheep brain masala on the menu. All apprehensions were buried as the dish turned out to be phenomenal. The SCC members have the full backing of left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who is set to meet the members at Indore after the second ODI. "We've got Monty's total support. See what we've got today; Flintoff's signed our T-Shirt,'' another SCCian quipped.
The bunch now heads for Goa where the next phase of the curry conference will take place. Cooking classes, river trips, full moon parties, and of course beach cricket awaits them. The club will be returning to Mumbai two more times over the next two weeks as they follow the England cricket team to the second ODI in Indore.