Beyond banana leaf meals: 7 Little India eateries serving authentic, must-try South Asian food
Leave the thosai and banana leaf meals for another day, there is so much food from the Indian subcontinent to be discovered in Little India, including from the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, as well as South Asian countries of Nepal and Pakistan.
Kolkata Beckon's mochar chop (left) and New Everest Kitchen's chilli momos. (Photos: Annette Tan)
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We all have our favourite Little India haunts. Mine have long been landmark staples such as Banana Leaf Apolo, MTR, Komala Villas and Madras New Woodlands. I know – so Singaporean, so… basic.
Little India, after all, is home to a panoply of restaurants, from mamak sarabat stalls and salt-of-the-earth eateries to Italian trattorias and hipster cafes. There is no lack of choice, but that surfeit of options can get in the way of discovering the less obvious, more region-specific kitchens that thrive quietly within this colourful, cacophonic enclave.
To get a different lens on the neighbourhood, I roped in my friend Vasunthara Ramasamy, a private dining chef and self-professed food geek who knows more about South Asian cuisine than anyone I know. With her taking the lead, we traipsed the neighbourhood, skipping familiar South Indian staples in favour of food from other parts of the subcontinent.
The result of those jaunts is this short list, which should make for a great start if you are curious to explore a different side of Little India and discover how the enclave’s moniker is brought to life in the richly varied cuisines of the wider subcontinent.
1. COURTALLAM BORDER RAHMATH KADAI
What started as a street-side parotta stall in Chennai has since grown into a beloved chain across Tamil Nadu and beyond. The Singapore outlet, open 24 hours a day, is a portal to that world.
Its range of parottas is fascinating. Although resembling the Southeast Asian-style prata we know and love, the parottas are denser, flakier, and distinctly savoury. Start with the simple Border Parotta, a nod to the original stall that fed generations of bus drivers, toll collectors and hungry travellers crossing the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border.
Then ask the waitstaff if Nool Parotta is on the menu. This crisp, thread-like parotta is deliciously intriguing and served with salna, a spicy, gingery-garlicky dip that somehow imparts a creamy, savoury complexity to the parotta. We also loved the pichi potta kozhi (shredded chicken), which came with the aromatic assertiveness of a good black pepper fry.
83 Syed Alwi Road. Tel: 6970 0596
2. SHIVAM RESTAURANT
Don’t be distracted by the quesadillas and burgers on the menu. You’re here for the Gujarati food. At Shivam, you’ll find dishes like undhiyu, a slow-cooked medley of winter vegetables, fenugreek and green masala, and khaman dhokla, a Gujarati steamed cake made of gram flour and topped with tempered coriander and grated coconut. The patra, colocasia leaves cloaked in sweet-sour gram flour paste, is another snack worth trying. If you’re unfamiliar with Gujarati cuisine, this is a great place to get an introduction.
87 Syed Alwi Road. Tel: 69082966
3. MADRAS COFFEE HOUSE’S
This unassuming stall sees a steady stream of regulars, mostly South Indian workers who come here for a proper cup of chai made the traditional way – with the milk and tea boiled separately before they are combined.
The brew is robust, comprising a mix of Red Label and Chinese tea leaves for extra depth, and sweetened with palmyra palm sugar, a distinctly Tamil ingredient with a mellow, earthy edge. The spice mix leans warm with dried ginger, cinnamon, and a flash of heat from black pepper. Ananda milk gives the chai here its rich body. There's also sukku coffee on the menu – a misnomer since there’s no coffee in the drink but rather an herbal tonic brewed with dried ginger and served as a warming drink.
20 Veerasamy Road, 54 Kerbau Road and 30 Race Course Road
4. KOLKATA BECKONS
Fish and mustard oil are the signatures of Bengali cooking. Both flow freely here in piquant dishes like fish paturi, a snapper fillet wrapped in banana leaf and steamed in a sauce of yellow, black and brown mustard. We also loved the mochar chop, a crisp fritter made with banana flower, served with a bracing Kashundi sauce that gets its sharp, pungent flavour from mustard.
Although not all of us were at first keen on the Kolkata mutton biryani, we ended up demolishing the dish made with, we later learned, spring lamb rather than mutton. The whole thing was fragrant, moreish, and wildly good, with no trace of gaminess. The peas kochuri was comfort food of the best kind – airy fried puffed breads stuffed with spiced peas and served alongside alur dum, a rich potato curry. There’s plenty more on the menu, for which we will soon return.
52 Race Course Road. Tel: 6291 5244
5. NEW EVEREST KITCHEN
Look past the dive bar setting at New Everest Kitchen, aka Kudil Bistro, and you’ll be rewarded with some amazing Nepalese food. “Our chef is a master,” offered the friendly waitress, to which we responded with sceptical smiles.
She wasn’t exaggerating. The chilli momos, cloaked in a lastingly spicy, vivid red sauce, were exemplary – their skins thin and delicate, their vegetable filling juicy and full of flavour. “These were not made from frozen,” Vasunthara said, clearly impressed.
If you order the plain momos, they’ll come with a bright, tangy chutney made of cauliflower, paneer, and a whisper of peanut, like a Romanesco sauce come alive with Asian verve.
Even a simple chicken thukpa, Tibetan chicken noodle soup, featured discernibly fresh sliced chicken thigh meat in a tasty, hearty broth. “Everything was great!” we tell our waitress enthusiastically. “That’s why I say,” she replied proudly, “chef is a master.”
55 Chander Road. Tel: 9895 9493
6. MONSOON MASALA
We stopped by Monsoon Masala for its Keralan offerings, homing in on more unique dishes like the chicken pothi biryani made with a tapestry of spices woven through short-grain rice (rather than basmati) that yields a “wetter” and sweetly fragrant biryani. Accompanying it was a duo of chutneys: A bright, herbaceous chammanthi and a sweet-tart date chutney, which brought delicious contrast to the spiced rice.
Another dish that caught our attention was the kappa biryani, a home-style dish of cassava cooked with spicy, sun-dried beef curry. A Kerala speciality rarely seen in restaurants, the kappa biryani was notable for its comforting earthiness, the kind of dish that tastes like someone’s grandmother made it. The menu spans a generous range of regional Kerala fare: assorted biryanis, grills, curries, and a morning snack selection that includes ullivada (onion fritters) and pazham pori (fried ripe banana).
22 Sam Leong Road. Tel: 8904 2244
7. BAR B Q TONIGHT
This Singapore outpost of a beloved Pakistani chain is known for its grilled meats. The menu is built around smoke and spice, with dishes that reflect the robust, coal-fired flavours of Pakistani barbecue.
We ordered the half barbecue platter, a heaving spread of biryani, lamb ribs, prawns, reshmi kebab, Afghan chicken boti, malai tikka and fish tikka. Each tasted clearly of their own marinades – some redolent of coriander and cumin, others saturated with the flavour of onions and green chillies. All were beautifully succulent, tender, and smoky from the breath of the grill.
10 Roberts Lane #01-01. Tel: 6299 5210
