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Traditional Indian Food in Little India, Singapore – Roti Prata and Teh Tarik

Hey, have you tried Roti Prata? What about pulled milk tea?

In Singapore you can experience a little bit of India. Indians make a third of the local population in the little island country and Roti Prata, which is paired with Teh Tarik (hot pulled milk tea) is the most representative of traditional Indian cuisine in the country. Together with Hainanese Chicken Rice, Laksa and Chili Crab, Roti Prata shares the stage as Singapore’s national multi-cultural dishes, if not, the most popular ones.

Roti Prata is unleavened flatbread cooked on a flat iron pan. It is India’s answer to pancake and is eaten round the clock, for breakfast, lunch or supper. You eat this with your bare hands and dipping the bread into some curry sauce of choice. It’s accompaniment the milk tea is hand pulled which can be really cool when the server performs the preparation in front of you.

In Little India we found this local restaurant called Ashoka Tandoor offering Roti Prata. I was the one craving for this and have been responsible for dragging the whole family here. My mom actually wanted to shop, and luckily there is a department store just around the corner, although not very sassy, the store offers steep discounts and sells almost everything under the sun. We promised to bring her there after our Roti Prata eating session.

All of us ordered Roti Prata and shared 2 types of curry sauces for the dip, fish and chicken. SisterJ, Myrhh and moi paired the bread with teh tarik while the senior citizen parents both had a soda. This was our late afternoon snack, although I did not remember eating anymore in the evening as I was already too full to even think about dinner.

Just like with many other Asian families, my family’s ultimate pastime is spent on eating and planning on what and where to eat next. There is a popular Filipino saying – The family that eats together, stays together. Well, I usually get sick in the stomach during our annual reunions, as in literally sick because of too much stuffing my face with food. They somehow have to go down you know. Seriously, I badly needed a vacation, far away from food after this vacation!

Nevertheless, a plate of Roti Prata with Teh Tarik is waiting for you in your next trip to Singapore =)

Little India in Singapore.

Some of the shops here were a bit dodgy in terms of hygiene. My sister put her foot down and told me we are not going to eat at these makeshift food eateries on the streets. Well, she knows better, she is the local.

And we settled at this local restaurant, Ashoka Tandoor with a sub caption called Indian Temptation. We wanted to eat outside but they only had 2 tables.

The Roti Prata maker and a chilled Teh Tarik.

Roti Prata is delicious to eat when it is still warm. I was not that fond of the curry sauces but they all liked it. It is a very simple yet hearty and fulfilling dish, no wonder it is popular; people eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The idea is to eat with your bare hands, tearing a piece of the Roti Prata bread and then dipping it with the sauce. As you can see, my dad and SisterJ have problems parting ways with the spoon and fork. Habits. 

They are here preparing other Indian sweets.

Travel Period: November 2015
Destination: Little India (Central), Singapore

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