Indian food in Singapore

Singapore is like Little India offering the best Indian cuisine outside India, along with its own adaptations like Nasi Briyani and Rojak. Read on to know everything about Indian food in Singapore

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North Indian food is rich in Indian spices & ingredients, but is nicely influenced by various cultures (like Mughlai, Jain, vegetarianism & middle eastern) and regions (like Kashmiri, Sindhi, Panjabi, Rajasthani)

This gives mouth watering platter like kebabs, naans, rotis, puris, biryanis, daals, bhujiya, chaat, kachori, bhatoora and so on

Singapore offers authentic North Indian options, probably the best outside India

Jaggi’s Singapore : The best Indian food in Singapore. And the cheapest Indian food for that quality (Racecourse Road)

Vansh Singapore : Contemporary setting & interiors, nice location, casual dining

Yantra : Situated in Tanglin mall, good North Indian spread & quality Indian sweets

Shahi Maharani : Serves good Kebabs, along with Indian music in background

Rang Mahal : Award winning, good for Indian fusion food

Song of India : The most expensive Indian restaurant in Singapore !

Maharaja : Quick taste of Indian food, has a few branches

Nirvana : The cheap Indian food in Singapore, good food quality but not the best ambiance

Kinara : Decent quality and service

Chellas : One of the better places in Little India for North Indian fast food

Khansama : The most spicy Indian food in Singapore (Spicy does not mean hot)

Ras : Posh, modern looking, contemporary setting

Mirchi : Mirchi means Chillies, but do not worry much with that, it is a good restaurant based in Esplanade

Ivory Kitchen : well known for its weekend lunch buffets, and Indian chaats

Shayray Punjab : Punjabi food in Holland Village if you visit there

Mustard : Probably only Bengali food place, but have low expectations to start with

Bombay café : contemporary setting, good for chaats, avoid the Bombay Café Suntec City

Pangaat : Vegetarian, gives good taste of Marathi cuisine and Mumbai Vada Paav

Tandoor in Holiday Inn : Well known for its Indian Thali buffets, one of the best places for good North Indian Food in Singapore

Bombay Woodlands : Not worth it

Chutney : Good & only place on Orchard road, when you go shopping there

Go India : For first timers to Indian food, good setting

South Indian food has regional influence, mostly based on rice, coconut, pickles, spicy curries, sambar, yogurts, gives variety of tastes like Tamil, Andhra, Chettinad, Kerala, Mangalorean. A few things are a must like dosa, idli, vada, bonda, Hyderabadi Biryani, Kesari bhath, tomoto rice, Pongal, seafood curries.

South Indian food in Singapore comes as fusion options, covering all of south Indian cuisines under one roof in many of the restaurants

Saravana Bhavan : Authentic South Indian vegetarian food

Madras Woodlands Ganga : Good food and buffet selections

Spice Junction : Simple and nice Kerala cuisine in Singapore

Mango tree : One of the best for Konkani, Kerala cuisines, famous for its vegetarian and seafood dishes and Indian cocktails

Annalakshmi : For bigger groups, ensure you reserve first

Komala Vilas : Indian fast food in Singapore, as cheap as it can get for Indian food

Raj : Authentic vegetarian food

The Gangezs : South Indian buffet, inexpensive

This is something only Indians in India know about. In last decade Indian Chinese food has become so popular in India. It has got nothing to do with Chinese cuisine. Just a little bit of ingredients may be like soya souce, but it is all Indian spicy food.

You will come across names like HongKong fried rice, veg Manchurian, hot & sour soups, chicken 65. Surprising no Indian Chinese sweets yet. You can get good Indian Chinese food in Singapore in Indian Wok Singapore, this is probably only dedicated and authentic place. Komalas fast food chain gives good quick bite options for Indian Chinese or Chindian food as it is called  

Jain cuisine is vegetarian cuisine, but other than avoiding meat and fish, it goes one step ahead to avoid certain ingredients like onions, garlic etc. There are varieties like Gujarathi Jain cuisine, Marwari Jain cuisine, Bundelkhandi Jain Cuisine etc

Sanskruti in Little India (5 min walk from Mustafa Singapore) offers pure vegetarian Gujarathi food. There are many pure vegetarian restaurants in Singapore like Saravana Bhavan, Annalakshmi, Raj, but dedicated Jain food place is not so easy to find

Indian sweets are a must along with Indian food. Most popular ones are called as Mithai, Barfi, Rasgulla, Gulab Jamun, Payasam, Shrikhand, Laddu. These are basically full of sugur, jaggary, condensed milk

Best place to get Indian sweets in Singapore is Mustafa Singapore, who imports leading Indian sweet brands like Haldirams by air. Places like Komala Vilas, Ananda Bhavan make South Indian sweet varieties locally. Places like Yantra Singapore sell Indian Sweets for occasions like for Deepavali festival

People from South India, mainly from Tamilnadu & Kerala situated in Malaysia & Singapore in early 20^th century. They brought Indian cuisine with them and over a period of time it is now localized as Singaporean Indian cuisine, or Indian Muslim cuisine

This consists of dishes like roti prata, nasi briyani, Indian rojak, the tarik, murtabak, fish head curry. There are dedicated places for this Singaporean Indian cuisine as given below

Zam Zam : One of the oldest and probably the best Indian Muslim food in Singapore

Chettinad Curry : (also serves Chettinad cuisine along with local)

Muthu’s curry : (most famous for Muthu’s fish head curry)

Banana leaf : (famous with non Indian tourists and locals)

Samy’s curry : (authentic Singaporean Indian food) 

For unknown reasons, Indian food is the most expensive cuisine in Singapore. You easily pay 2 times for Indian food, be in any roadside food court or in a decent restaurant

Below is list of restaurants, where you can get good Indian food at prices as cheap as it can get in Singapore

Gangothri : Mix of all Indian cuisines, and homely place near Mustafa Singapore

Jaggi's : The best Indian food in Singapore, at cheapest prices

Zam Zam : The best Indian Muslim food in Singapore, almost free

Komalas : Indian Fast Food, please do not expect lot of food quality, but is the only place you can get various types of food in one place

Komala Vilas : The best South Indian food and the fantastic Coffee. Please do not miss this place near Mustafa Singapore

Raj : Good vegetarian food, they have couple of branches

Nirvana : Best Indian North Indian taste, near Mustafa Singapore

Ganges : Cheapest Indian buffet in Singapore

Riverwalk Singapore : Actually I should call this as the cheapest, but not a place you would go more than once

Here are quick tips on finding vegetarian food in Singapore

If you are looking for pure vegetarian place, ensure you plan your daily routine ending or passing through Little India, as that is probably the only place to find all vegetarian food in one place

If you are heading to Singapore Bird Park or Singapore Zoo, Singapore Night Safari, Sentosa please note you hardly get any Indian food there, forget the vegetarian food. Ensure you visit Komalas on the way and pack some food (Komalas does that very well). You can find some Indian food in food courts these days in big suburban shopping malls like in Boon Lay Jurong Point, IMM, Lot 1, Tampines mall, West Mall and so on

If you are in Orchard Road, only vegetarian places are Chutney in Food Republic, Tandoor in Holiday Inn, Bombay Woodlands on the way to Tanglin mall, Yantra in Tanglin mall. If you can walk, Hard Rock Cafe has good vegetarian sandwitch option. My suggestion will be to take bus to Little India, than try to walk and find any of these options, unless you plan in advance

If you are going to East Coast Park beach, you get choices today with Komalas and Mango Tree

Please note, if you are ordering for more than 5 meals, Komalas can give you home delivery.

If all the above do not work, head to McDonald or Burger king, and request fries and burger with veg patti. Now a days Subway is also expanding well in Singapore, which gives you decent sandwitch option 

1. Rang Mahal (Pan Pacific Hotel)
2. Song of India (Scotts Rd)
3. Mango Tree (East Coast Park)
4. Shahi Maharani (Raffles City Mall)
5. Jaggis (Race Course Rd)
6. Yantra (Tanglin Mall)
7. Bombay Cafe
8. Chutney (Food Republic on Orchard Rd)
9. Murugan Idly (near Mustafa)
10. Komala Vilas

Recommended reading about Singapore

See details on Singapore attractions and things to do here

See details on newly opening Singapore Casinos and Integrated Resorts here

See details on day trips from Singapore, when you are in holiday in region

Indian food is based on basic ingredients like rice, whole wheat flour, vegetables, variety of dry spices, pulses and sugar

Rice comes in various flavors like Masala Bhaath, Biryani, Pulao, Jira rice, daal rice, sweet rice, appam, noodles, idli, dosa, rice based sweets and deserts

Wheat & refined flour goes into chappatis, rotis, naans, puris, and so on

Pulses come in various varieties like chana daal, mung daal, masoor daal, matki daal, urad daal and they make up some great dishes

Indian spices cover most of the spices found in Indian subcontinent (eg Ginger, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, coriander, garlic, chilli, pepper, cloves, curry leaves). Important difference between any other cuisine to Indian cuisine is, Indian spices are “dry”, they are dried and ground together to prepare different types of pastes and used into different dishes as necessary

Indian food is cooked in so many different oils. Many South Indian cuisines use coconut oil. Eastern Indian cuisines use Mustard oil, Western Indians use ground nut oil. Many of the Indian dishes use Ghee (made from milk or hydrogenated vegetable oil) as main ingredient

Indian sweets are mainly based on rice, milk, flour and lots of sugar. They come in so many varieties and tastes, totally irresistible !

Indian food is very filling and heavy and the portions are much bigger than any other cuisine in the world. But it is served with such a knack and also such a great hospitality, always respect & remember that more than the food itself !