Take one look at 6ft 4in, tattooed south Londoner Dan Elliot and it’s unlikely you’ll have him down as a hapless romantic.

But for the 46-year-old, it’s the adoration of his wife - and curry - that has seen him launch a unique venture, aimed at delighting people with his spicy dishes while raising money for charity.

Mr Elliot, who lives in Westgate-on-Sea, runs Margate Curry Club, which - once off the ground as a business - will see him and wife Nic bringing the food they love to the community through their ‘scran van'.

And as part of the venture, a proportion of the money they make will go to Rock2Recovery, which supports veterans and the serving military, and Oasis Domestic Abuse charity.

The dad-of-three, who moved to Thanet with his family 11 years ago, says he was raised on curry.

“When I was young I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who had spent part of her life in northern India when my grandfather was posted there during the war and she would cook all this amazing food,” he said.

“So curry became a comfort food for me.”

'We make curries inspired by our history, our travels and our passion' - Dan Elliot

Inspired by his grandmother and using the skills she taught him, he frequently cooked for friends and the community, feeding almost 2,000 people through the curry club in the past two years, for a small contribution towards ingredients.

But he soon realised it was time to turn his passion into his day job.

“Me and my wife were both IT consultants for 25 years and over the last eight years I spent a lot of time away,” he said.

“I really love my wife and kids and I don’t want to be away from them. So this is a way to do what I love, which is cooking curry, and being together.”

The couple are raising money to buy their first food trailer so they can cater events from next Easter and have already raised more than £2,100 in just five days.

“We want to bring people food they’ve either never tried before or have loved but been unable to get back home in the UK,” he said.

“We make curries inspired by our history, our travels and our passion.

“We make curries from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Thailand, Tonga and Africa.

“We cook what we eat, we eat what we love and we think you’ll love it too.”

As well as feeding the masses, Mr Elliot volunteers at Rock2Recovery and Mrs Elliot at Oasis.

“We are looking to build enough funding so that in 2021 we can buy several more trailers,” he said.

“We will offer them to rent at a discounted rate for men and women transitioning out of the military or first responder services, with prepared Margate Curry Club food to go out to events, as ready to go mobile businesses. This will help them to get into a business that will help change their lives rapidly and provide income from pretty much square one.”

Visit www.gofundme.com/f/the-margate-curry-club for more information or to help with fundraising.