Bismillah Biryani is a heritage Singapore restaurant devoted to authentic dum biryani, and this branch serves the NUS campus from the Stephen Riady Centre at 2 College Avenue West. The brand is 100% Muslim owned and operated, cooks with 100% no MSG, and offers islandwide delivery alongside 24/7 online ordering.
The kitchen's calling card has been recognised nine consecutive times with the Michelin Bib Gourmand (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025). The restaurant has also been featured on Anthony Bourdain's The Layover, profiled in the Michelin Guide's 'Behind the Bib', covered by Lonely Planet and The Straits Times, shown on Channel News Asia's Show Me The City, and even served on Singapore Airlines' in-flight menu.
Dum, as the restaurant explains, is an old word for breath — for steam held, not released. Traditionally a clay pot was sealed with dough and set over coals so the steam, carrying saffron, caramelised onion and whole and ground spice, cycled again and again through the meat and rice until everything cooked as one. That philosophy shows in a menu that stretches from chicken dum, lamb chop, lamb shank, chicken kofta, gosht and vegetable biryanis plus yakhni mutton pulao, to slow-cooked nihari, haleem, korma and paya, with butter chicken, keema mattar, chana masala, bhuna gobi mattar, garlic naan, kebabs and kulfi rounding things out.
At this Queenstown outlet, hours run 11.30am to 7.30pm on weekdays and 11.30am to 5pm on Saturdays, closed on Sundays and public holidays. Party orders — biryani by the tray, party trays and bentos, and a mini buffet — extend the same dum standards to gatherings across the island.
Bismillah Biryani has built its reputation the slow way — sealed pots, live steam and patience. A heritage restaurant devoted to authentic dum biryani, it holds the Michelin Bib Gourmand nine years running, and its Stephen Riady Centre outlet brings that kitchen to the NUS campus at 2 College Avenue West in Queenstown. It is 100% Muslim owned and operated, cooks with no MSG at all, and takes orders around the clock.
The campus setup is deliberately simple: a counter at #01-04 open on weekdays from 11.30am to 7.30pm and Saturdays until 5pm, closed Sundays and public holidays. The wider operation never really sleeps — online ordering runs 24/7, and delivery covers the whole island, so a biryani fix doesn't have to wait for opening hours.
Michelin's Bib Gourmand — the guide's nod to good food at good value — has gone to Bismillah in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The restaurant credits its regulars for the streak: 'We couldn't have done it without your unwavering support.'
The recognition has come from every direction. Bismillah has been featured on Anthony Bourdain's The Layover, profiled in the Michelin Guide's 'Behind the Bib', covered by Lonely Planet and The Straits Times, shown on Channel News Asia's Show Me The City, and even served on Singapore Airlines' in-flight menu. It is an unusually well-travelled plate of biryani.
The house blog explains it best. Dum is an old word for breath — 'for steam held, not released.' For centuries, dum cooking meant a clay pot sealed with dough and left over coals, the meat and rice trapped inside with nowhere for the steam to go but back through the food, again and again, carrying saffron, caramelised onion, whole and ground spice, and the richness of the meat with it. Everything cooked as one. The restaurant is candid that it has changed everything else to scale the method up — but the principle of the sealed pot is the standard every biryani here answers to, whether the classic chicken dum biryani or one of the house variations.
Lonely Planet's Singapore guide calls the mutton biryani the speciality — 'and it is special' — while rating the melt-in-the-mouth mutton kebab even higher still. Around those two, the biryani list runs from lamb chop, lamb shank and chicken kofta to a meat-forward gosht biryani, a vegetable dum biryani and a yakhni mutton pulao built on fragrant stock.
The slow-cooked section is where the kitchen shows its range: chicken nihari, haleem, paya and korma, with curries like butter chicken, keema mattar, chicken bhuna, chana masala and bhuna gobi mattar alongside. Garlic naan is the obvious escort for all of it, and kulfi closes the meal. Newer arrivals — and the restaurant is upfront that something new is always being added — include chicken shami kebab and biryani by the tray.
Party orders are a genuine part of the business rather than an afterthought. Biryani by the tray, party trays and bentos, and a full mini buffet line-up make this a default choice for office lunches, campus events and family gatherings, with the same dum standards simply scaled up. To keep up with what's new, the restaurant points regulars to its Facebook page, @bismillahbiryanisg, where new dishes tend to appear first.
This branch keeps campus hours: 11.30am to 7.30pm from Monday to Friday, 11.30am to 5pm on Saturday, and closed on Sundays and public holidays. The number here is 8886 8074 if you want to check availability before heading over.
Ordering ahead is easy — the online store at order.bismillahbiryani.com never closes, and delivery runs islandwide. Nine Bib Gourmands later, the promise on the homepage still reads the same: taste, one bite at a time.