Briton's fish head curry shocker

The Sunday Times, May 6, 2007


BUBBLY BROOD: Briton Dave Wilkins and Singaporean Rachael Tay now have three children. The Wilkins kids are (from left) Hannah, Abigail and Kirsten.





WHEN British-born Dave Wilkins was dating Dr Rachael Tay in London, he would often hear her rave about fish head curry.

Mr Wilkins, who is from Reading, a town about 60km west of London, would then imagine a bowl of curry with lots of tiny fish heads floating in it.

They were studying at the prestigious Imperial College and met in 1991 while on its bowling team.

And so it was that he first experienced culture shock when he came to Singapore in 1995 and finally saw - and tasted - the famous dish.

But apart from spending the first week in shock over all the spicy food, the 36-year-old management consultant and trainer has taken to life here like a duck to water.

The couple got hitched in 1996 and have three daughters: Hannah, eight, Abigail, six, and Kirsten, nine months old.

'Dave is more Singaporean than I am,' declares Dr Tay, 36, who is a director at financial advisory firm GYC.

'He's always the one to say: 'Let's go to Alexandra for fish head curry, or Crawford Lane for bak chor mee'. And he must have his roti prata every Saturday morning.'

More proof of his 'Singaporeanness': He loves durians, prefers zhi char and Teochew porridge to Western food and thinks Singlish is 'quite cute'.

'I shop at AMK Hub and avoid Holland Village like the plague,' says Mr Wilkins, who is a Singapore permanent resident. 'Of all my close friends here, not one is an ang moh.'

The family lives in a condominium in Yio Chu Kang and visits Malaysia regularly. In fact, that is the only thing he dislikes about Singapore: its small size.

The couple, who officially became an item in 1992 on Valentine's Day, clicked easily from Day One as they shared the same outlook in life despite the cultural differences.

'We have a sense of humour, we don't take life too seriously but at the same time want to do well for ourselves,' he says.

Nodding in agreement, she adds: 'Most Singaporean guys are very stereotypical in that they just want to do well in school and get a good job, that's it. There's more to life than that.'

The first hurdle he had to cross during their courtship was learning to play mahjong - she told him it was a pre-requisite for marriage.

He is now an old hand at the game and never feels bored during the endless Chinese New Year visits 'as long as there is a table going'.

While his folks were fine with him seeing an Asian girl, her 'very traditional' parents had a hard time accepting that she had a foreign boyfriend.

But he has since won them over. 'They see how Dave has assimilated into the local culture and appreciate he has given up a lot to be here,' she says.