Chola Cafe — also billed as Chola Cafe Biryani House — is a vegetarian- and non-vegetarian-friendly Indian restaurant at 20 Clive Street in Little India, Singapore. The team describes it as one of the neighbourhood's loved Indian eateries, known for authentic taste, hygienic preparation and warm hospitality, with a menu that runs from crispy dosas and flavorful biryanis to rich curries.
The kitchen spans both South and North India: South Indian meals, Chettinad chicken and mutton, Hyderabadi dum biryani, tandoori specials and freshly prepared vegetarian delicacies, plus a Chinese-fusion line of noodles and schezwan fried rice. Tiffin classics like uthappam, parotta and kothu parotta sit alongside regional non-veg starters from the Kongu country, Kerala, Andhra and Madurai, seafood, egg dishes and variety rice meals.
The dining room is air-conditioned with table service, geared to family dinners, gatherings of friends and corporate lunches. Fresh juices, lassi, hot drinks and draught beer round out the menu, cards and digital payments are accepted, and the restaurant is open daily from 11 am to 10:30 pm with table reservations available.
Chola Cafe sits at 20 Clive Street in the middle of Little India, and its full name — Chola Cafe Biryani House — tells you where its heart lies. This is a restaurant built for both camps of Indian dining: a full vegetarian spread and an equally serious non-vegetarian kitchen, served side by side under one air-conditioned roof. The team calls the place a culinary haven, and the menu reads like a journey — South Indian meals and Chettinad chicken and mutton, Hyderabadi biryani, tandoori specials and freshly prepared vegetarian delicacies, with a Chinese-fusion section riding along.
Start with the biryani, because the restaurant's own billing starts there. Two dum biryanis anchor the menu: a Hyderabadi dum biryani cooked on long-grain basmati, offered with egg, chicken, mutton or prawns, and a Seeraga Samba dum biryani made with the short, fragrant seeraga samba rice prized in Tamil Nadu, served with chicken or mutton. It's the Seeraga Samba that draws specific praise — one diner credited "Chef Arjun for the delectable Seeraga Samba Briyani" in a five-star review.
If you want to go further off the beaten path, the Special Request section offers fresh country chicken (naattu kozhi) and country mutton (naattu aadu), cooked in whatever preparation you choose from the menu.
The non-vegetarian starters alone read like a map of regional Tamil and Kerala cooking. Kongu specialties Chicken Pallipalayam and Chicken Chinthamani share the page with Andhra chicken, Kerala-style Tiger Chicken and Dragon Chicken for the Indo-Chinese inclined. Then come the fry classics: chicken 65, chicken lollipop, mutton roast, mutton milagu varuval, tawa-fried sankara and pomfret, salt-and-pepper prawns, and kallumakkaya (mussels) fry.
The gravies run deep too — chicken Chettinad and mutton Chettinad, butter chicken masala, mutton rogan josh, Madurai-style mutton pepper, Tamil Nadu fish masala, Kerala fish molly, prawn Chettinad and more — all built to pair with the tandoor breads: naan in plain, garlic, butter and cheese versions, tandoori roti and kulcha. On the grill, tandoori chicken comes by the quarter, half or full bird, alongside chicken tikka, fish tikka and mutton seekh kebab.
Vegetarians get their own parallel kitchen. Starters run from podi idli to mushroom, paneer, babycorn and gobi in 65, chilli, pepper or Manchurian styles; gravies include kadai vegetable, kadai paneer, paneer butter masala, dal fry and tadka, and vegetable kurma. The variety rice meals — ghee, sambar, lemon, tomato, coriander, pudhina, tamarind and curd rice — are a South Indian lunchtime staple, and the tiffin counter turns out dosas in seven styles, uthappams, parottas, veechu parotta, chilli parotta and kothu parotta chopped with egg, chicken or mutton.
There's even a Chinese fusion section — fried noodles, schezwan fried rice and schezwan fried noodles in veg, egg, chicken or prawn form — plus finger foods, egg specialties from kalaki to karandi omelette, soups from manchow to naattu kozhi milagu rasam, and desserts like gulab jamun and ice cream.
The room is air-conditioned with table service and seating arranged for family dinners, gatherings of friends and corporate lunches — the kind of place where groups settle in. Drinks stretch from fresh juices (apple to avocado to pomegranate) and lassi in sweet, salt, mango or strawberry form to hot masala tea and coffee, and there's draught beer — Paulaner by the pint, jug or tower — reflecting the resto-bar side of its personality. Cards and digital payments are accepted, and the kitchen's stated approach is premium-quality ingredients and traditional cooking methods at reasonable prices.
The reviews sketch a consistent picture. One diner highlighted the North Meals and the warm ambiance; another praised the hot drinks and promised to return; others singled out the prawn and chicken dishes and service that people remember by name.
Chola Cafe is open daily, 11 am to 10:30 pm, Sundays included, so it works for lunch through late dinner. Walk-ins are welcome and tables can be reserved in advance through the website or by phone at +65 84544404 — worth doing if you're coming with a group. You'll find it at 20 Clive Street, Singapore 209778, in the heart of Little India.