Gayatri Restaurant has been serving classic Indian flavours with a taste of home since 1996, when it first opened as a humble eatery on Chandar Road. Two years later came a move to Race Course Lane, and today the flagship stands at 122 Race Course Road, in the heart of Singapore's vibrant Little India district.
The dining room's centrepiece is an open-concept kitchen, where chefs flip buttery pratas and grill aromatic tandoori specialties behind sleek glass walls — the energy of Indian street food brought into a modern, comfortable space. The menu runs from the beloved fish head curry and Mutton Mysore to dum biryanis, Chettinad and Andhra-style chicken, coastal crab and prawn dishes, clay-oven breads, and South Indian classics like thosai, uttappam, prata, murtabak, appam and appam jala (served from 3:00 PM onwards), with a strong vegetarian line-up alongside the seafood and lamb.
Beyond the restaurant, Gayatri provides full-service catering for weddings, private celebrations, corporate events, community functions and large media events — capable of serving up to 5,000 guests a day on weekends and public holidays — and has cooked for Kollywood and Bollywood celebrities as well as events attended by Singapore ministers, Members of Parliament and grassroots leaders. Reservations, delivery and take-away make the flavours easy to enjoy any way you like.
Step off Race Course Road into an aroma of curry leaves and tandoor smoke, and you have found Gayatri Restaurant — a Little India institution serving classic Indian flavours with a taste of home since 1996.
The story began humbly on Chandar Road, where the first Gayatri opened as a small eatery built on a deep love for authentic Indian cuisine. Two years later came a move to Race Course Lane, and today the flagship stands at 122 Race Course Road, in the heart of Singapore's vibrant Little India district. Through it all, the restaurant has leaned on traditional recipes and heartfelt hospitality in every dish it serves.
The kitchen's calling card is its Fish Head Curry: fresh red snapper head gently simmered in a bold South Indian-style curry infused with tamarind, spices and curry leaves, slow-cooked with okra, tomatoes and eggplant, and served bubbling hot for the table. Guests' top picks alongside it include Mutton Mysore — pan-fried mutton bites in an aromatic dry masala finished with cashews — the dum-sealed Lamb Dum Biryani, a hearty Vegetarian Set Meal, and the Mutton Kari Thosai, a crisp dosa crowned with spiced minced mutton.
The menu stretches much further. Tandoor classics range from a mixed tandoori platter to chicken tikka, paneer tikka and broccoli cheese tikka, while the chicken and lamb sections cover Chettinad, Andhra-style pepper fry, kadai, saagwala, roganjosh and vindaloo. Coastal flavours get their own chapter, from curry fish and fish sambal to Sri Lankan crab in black pepper, chilli or garlic, and jumbo prawns in sambal, Manchurian or pepper sauce. Warming bowls such as idicha nandu soup — hand-crushed crab in a peppery, aromatic broth — and milagu kozhi charu, a pepper-chicken broth beloved in Tamil homes, make honest starters.
South Indian specialists will find thosai, uttappam, prata, murtabak, appam and appam jala — served from 3:00 PM onwards — while biryani lovers can choose chicken, mutton or fish versions, plus weekend-only Chicken 65 and lamb dum biryanis. Vegetarian diners are well looked after, from paneer butter masala and dal makhani to a plant-based mock mutton masala, and the Gayatri South Indian Set Meal assembles a full thali of ghee-topped rice, sambar, rasam, vatha kuzhambu and crispy applam.
One of Gayatri's signature touches is its open-concept kitchen. Behind sleek glass walls, chefs flip buttery pratas and grill aromatic tandoori specialties, bringing the vibrant energy of Indian street food into a modern, comfortable dining space.
The people behind the pass describe themselves as specialists in memorable moments: seasoned chefs passing down time-honoured recipes, floor staff who remember your favourite dish, and a back-of-house team that keeps everything running like clockwork.
Gayatri's reach extends well beyond the dining room. Its full-service catering arm handles weddings, private celebrations, corporate events, community functions and large media events, and has cooked for Kollywood and Bollywood celebrities as well as occasions attended by Singapore ministers, Members of Parliament and grassroots leaders. On weekends and public holidays the team is capable of serving up to 5,000 guests a day; catering enquiries go through a dedicated line at +65 6294 6294.
For everyday visits, tables can be reserved online, and delivery and take-away make it easy to enjoy the food at home.
Gayatri Restaurant sits at 122 Race Course Road, #01-01, Singapore 218583, open Monday to Saturday from 11:00am to 10:30pm and Sunday from 10:30am to 10:30pm. Come hungry, order the fish head curry for the table, and save room for whatever comes hot off the tandoor.