Little India Singapore: Colours, Temples & the Best South Indian Food

Little India is Singapore's most viscerally alive neighbourhood — a square kilometre of Serangoon Road and its surrounding streets where the sensory intensity of the subcontinent arrives in condensed form: marigold garlands spilling from flower shops, Tamil film music from competing stereos, the smell of jasmine, cumin, and burning incense competing in warm air, and the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple's gopuram (tower) rising from a shophouse street in a profusion of painted gods.

The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple on Serangoon Road is the neighbourhood's spiritual centre — a South Indian Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Kali, its entrance tower covered in dozens of hand-painted deities in vivid colour, its interior maintained as an active place of worship where visitors are welcomed respectfully. Remove shoes before entering and dress modestly. The Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple a few blocks north is larger and also excellent. The Abdul Gaffoor Mosque on Dunlop Street represents the neighbourhood's Muslim Indian community and is architecturally interesting for its fusion of Moorish and colonial elements.

For food: the best banana leaf restaurants (where rice and curries are served on banana leaf with hands or spoon, no cutlery) are concentrated on Race Course Road — Komala Vilas and Muthu's Curry are the institutions, both open since the 1950s. The wet market at Little India Arcade on Serangoon Road has the city's best fresh produce, fresh coconut milk, and spice selection. The tekka Centre food centre at the north end of the neighbourhood is one of Singapore's best hawker centres for South Indian and Malay food.

Little India is most atmospheric on Sunday when the neighbourhood's domestic workers congregate for their day off, creating an extraordinary outdoor social scene along Serangoon Road and its surrounding streets.