Muthu's Curry, Race Course Road

An Indian curry fish head place at Race Course Road recommended by a colleague who couldn't recall the name. Turned out to be Muthu's Curry. This flagship branch of the restaurant was spacious compared to the other one at Suntec which I've eaten at on more than a couple of occasion. Even with the additional floor estate, they had a full house of customers. Since curry fish head what we were thinking of, it was a good opportunity for me to do comparison between both branches.

banana lassi

briyani

curry fish head

curry mutton

palek paneer

black squid

Besides the black squid which was suppose to be an outlet specialty, the other menu items were pretty much the same as the one at Suntec. I felt that the food here wasn't as satisfying as Suntec. Fish head had too little meat for a large portion and the briyani lacked fragrance which I was expecting. It was almost like eating plain basmati rice which might have been a better in this case.

There wasn't much to the black squid. Didn't taste too bad though. Their palak paneer didn't have any fragrance from the fried cheese which I was looking forward to. I'll probably stick to the outlet at Suntec next time round. This felt to me like compromises in cooking standards or just plain negligence.

Muthu's Curry, Suntec City Mall Basement

From Race Course Road, Muthu's Curry has expanded into prime grounds at the basement at Suntec City. I hadn't expect the variety in the menu since everyone only talks about their curry fish head which led to my assumption that it was mostly what they served. Apparently, their menu is fairly comprehensive.


This was the smallest order of the Curry Fish Head. $20. It served about 3. Almost. The gravy was less viscous and was also not as robust tasting as I was expecting. That was not to say that it was not good, but it was thin enough that I could actually drink it like soup. Which I did for most of the part after the dippers (the tandoori prata and cheese naan) ran out.

Taandori prata

Cheese naan

I hadn't a clue what a tandoori prata could be until today. Essentially, it's a roti prata that looked like it was baked rather than pan fried. Tasted like it contained less oil with a texture that was something between a regular roti prata and chapati. I much preferred the cheese naan but that's coming from someone who digs cheese in general. And of course, the palak paneer didn't escape my notice...


Their's was fine and smooth compared some other places. I noticed that they fried their cottage cheese cubes and that gave them more fragrance. If I might say so, this was one of the more buttery tasting spinach puree I've had.

The Call of theMuthu

Definitely didn't plan to re-visit Muthu's Curry again so soon. It was all a result of lethargic spontaneity. Whatever it is that you made out of that description. It also meant that I liked enough of what I had here previously to want to come back again. This time round, it was even better because we've found more delicious items on menu. Apart from the much talked about fish head curry which I've mentioned previously, there were a slew of other items in the menu that featured both southern and northern Indian cuisine. Those didn't deter us from getting a serving of the fish head curry again. This time round, the fish was less meaty, but seemed to taste fresher.

fish head curry

murg pudina kebab

The murg pudina kebab reminds me of the murg malai tikka from Copper Chimney which I didn't enjoy. The initial apprehension was wiped off after the first bite. This was pretty good stuff. The only similarity with the malai tikka was the burnt chicken. It wasn't overly covered with herbs. Spicy yoghurt marinate and ground mint was good here.

marsala prawns

These marsala prawns deserved special mention because they were extraordinary. I was totally surprised by how good the prawns were. Something that one would have to try to understand. What rocked wasn't so much the masala. In fact, the sauce was unremarkable. Sadly.  It was the prawns that made this dish. Big, fat and fresh tiger prawns fully loaded with meaty crunchiness. Made me a happy man. Lol. The restaurant offered the options of having them with shells or de-shelled. We picked the de-shelled option which left us with the tail end and the heads which were easily removed. It's $6 for one prawn and judging from the menu, prices may fluctuate.

Cheese naan

And there was better cheese naan this time round. In comparison with the previous visit, the naan today had more fragrance, was served warmer and had more cheese. It looks like I could be back again.

Ordering in from Muthu's Curry

Haven't had Muthu's Curry in while so we ordered in via our neighbourhood friendly GrabFood. I remember thinking quite well of them in the past. In retrospect (albeit a short one), the food was rather expensive. $84 before delivery charges.

That's prawns 65. The first of its kind we've had amongst the other 65s. We liked that the prawns were shelled. Unfortunately, the batter didn't survive the transit very well. Most of the crisp was lost. Might not have been the better item to order for food delivery. It didn't taste bad though.

Had some fish cutlets which were really more potatoes than fish. Samy's Curry makes better fish cutlets. 

This was their lamb chops ananas. Trivia - pineapples are known as ananas in most languages except English where they're called pineapples. The smoky lamb was well done and reasonably tender. The spice paste was nutty, savoury with a bit of heat and delicious. Wished they had used sweeter pineapples for this though. Note to self - one order is good for one since there're only two ribs.

We settled for their black daal because the ran out of the palak version. It's not bad, but there are other renditions which I prefer.

Naans were deflated. While Muthu's naans weren't exactly large and fluffy in the first place, these look sad. I was also sad that I couldn't taste much of the cheese or garlic from them. These definitely do not survive as well for home delivery as pizzas do.

More from Muthu's Curry

I've had cravings for Indian food these couple of weeks. After the recent trips to Race Course Road, the options at Muthu's Curry (#B1-056, Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard, tel: 68357707) didn't look as attractive as before. In spite of comments I've heard about them being commercialized, I still thought that the food wasn't too far off from what's cooking in Little India. Was I mistaken about that? I found myself enjoying both the spicier butter chicken here and the subdued and creamier version down at Jaggi's. The masala prawns slathered in the spicy and nutty gravy were still crunchy though they appear to be a little smaller than I remember them. I had the navratan korma for the first time. That was a mixed vegetable dish in a cashew and cream gravy. The gravy was pretty good though I couldn't taste any flavour of cashew or even any nuttiness. Flavour from the cloves was rather strong. And now, I too recognize that the lassi over at Delhi Restaurant and Spice Junction were way better than the ones served here.

Considering how much it cost to eat here, the restaurants down at Race Course Road or anywhere else in Little India looked a lot more appealing.

chennai cabbage

butter chicken

navratan korma

marsala prawns

Bombay Dining, Pasir Panjang Road

Have never noticed Bombay Dining (89 Pasir Panjang Road, tel : +65 6475 5855) before along this stretch of the road. Good thing we took this leap of faith.

Got a drink called thandai. According to Wiki, "Thandai is an Indian cold drink prepared with a mixture of almonds, fennel seeds, watermelon kernels, rose petals, pepper, poppy seeds, cardamom, saffron, milk and sugar". Figures. Tasted like a refreshing chilled badam milk. Pretty sure we don't have poppy seeds in this one. I liked it.

Seekh kebab was delicious. The minced lamb was moist crossing over to juicy and the spices packed a bit more heat than I had expected. Gotta have them with those crisp sharp onions.

Did not expect fish head curry on their menu. This one was different from the common local Indian rendition we're used to from say Muthu's Curry, Banana Leaf Apolo or Samy's Curry. This fish head was fried prior. Meat was much dryer.

While curry was in its own way addictive with a strong hit of assam (tamarind), I'm also pretty sure it didn't have so much in common with the regular rendition. Tasted like it was some sort of assam curry that's been mixed with butter chicken gravy. It was rich with an underlying sweetness.

Loved their Kashmiri pulao. Aside from raisins and chopped maraschino cherry, there's pineapple and some other fruit which looked like papaya. And some cashews. All of which were rounded up nicely with ghee in the rice. Good enough to eat on its own or with raita.

This was for the fish head curry.

Kashmiri naan has nuts in it. Decent but not memorable.

Got a vegetable raita which was great pairing with the Kashmiri pulao. The vegetable component included diced onions and cucumber which added crunch to the refreshing yoghurt.

Stuffed as we were from the food, their halwa served piping hot went down with surprising ease. Haven't had a lot of these but this one was really good. Herein lies a pronounced cardamom-y sweetness punctuated by bursts of tanginess from raisins.

Chye Lye Restaurant, Jalan Legundi

This was one of those places that I've probably passed by and never realised that it was there until now. It's actually located just a couple of units away from Sum's Kitchen which I've visited on a few occasions in the past year. Yet I've never noticed. Talk about being oblivious. I'm not about to lament on the lost opportunities for having not known about this place earlier (it looks like it's been around for a really long time) and instead, make excuses to come back again for the pretty good assam fish head curry.

The place can be scorchingly warm in the afternoon and has no ambience to speak of except for the brand of really old school charm of old coffeeshops which isn't that common these days anymore. But the food is good.


The initial impression of the tamarind based curry was that it tasted a little on the watery side. As the curry cooled, it gained a viscosity and the flavor was enhanced as well. Apart from making an excellent topping for the rice, the remains served decently as soup of sorts as well. For $18, I thought this portion which can feed 3-4 persons is probably better value than what I could have gotten at Muthu's Curry which costs more for less. Not to mention the tender deep fried chicken that comes with a belacan chilli with a kick which really was a steal at $6.50 for half a chicken and a very decent dish of stir fried sambal sweet potato leaves which turned out to be one of the better ones that I've had in while.

The Banana Leaf Apolo, Race Course Road

I don't remember if I've ever visited Banana Leaf (56 Race Course Road, tel : 6293 8682 / 6293 5054). We came over for dinner with some friends who're back from Ozland missing the flavours of spicy local food. Not sure what was defining of their supposedly signature curry fish head. Not sure how are they much different from Muthu's as well. Also couldn't tell if the fish head was of better quality or not. That being said, the food wasn't bad. I have heard from friends whom have eaten here in the older dinghy days that the quality of the curry fish head were much better. Unfortunately or fortunately, I cannot relate. The premise does have an air of commercialism.

To the food - their rice was fine, but it took a long time to get refills. The vegetables didn't look nor taste as good as Komala Vilas. We had masala chicken which was generally fine in the most casual sense of the word.