5 places to celebrate Deepavali in Singapore with delicious grub

A major festival for Hindus, Jain and Sikhs, the annual Deepavali falls on Oct 24 this year. We’ve rounded up five places you can feast with your loved ones this festive season.

1. Shahi Maharani

Raffles City Shopping Centre, 03-21B, 252 North Bridge Road
Nearest MRT station: City Hall
Open: Monday to Thursday (12pm to 3pm, 6.30pm to 10.30pm), Friday to Sunday (12pm to 3pm, 6.30pm to 11pm)

Want the full royal treatment and feel like a maharani (meaning “great queen” in Sanskrit)? Shahi Maharani serves authentic North Indian cuisine with live music, amid a lavish interior.

Meat, chicken and seafood feature heavily on the menu here, where they are finished in the tandoori or on the grill. 

You’ll find generous portions of tandoori milawat — mixed tandoori grill, chicken tikka, sarson machhbli tikka, lahsuni jheenga and seekh kebab (S$45), tawa jheenga — grilled tiger prawns marinated with spices (S$40), and chicken makhanwala — butter chicken (S$34).

For the festival of lights, the restaurant is running several buffet promotions throughout the week. 

The special Diwali lunch buffet (S$48++ per person) runs from now to Oct 21, then a Diwali celebration a la carte lunch buffet (S$58++ per adult, S$42++ per child) from Oct 22 to Oct 24, followed by Diwali celebration dinner buffet (S$88++ per adult, S$62++ per child) on Oct 24. 

Shahi Maharani also sells handcrafted artisanal vegetarian mithai sweets (S$68 to S$118 a box) packaged in elegant, festive gift boxes and jars. Better yet, the sweets are mildly sweetened, preservative-free and made fresh daily.

2. Terra Madre

71 Loewen Road, 01-02
Nearest MRT station: Redhill
Open: Sunday to Thursday (8am to 9.30pm), Friday and Saturday (8am to 10pm)

Nestled in the lush greens of Dempsey Hill, Terra Madre is a grocer and cafe modelled after Australian cafe culture. Half of the space operates as a grocer focusing on organic and artisanal produce, while the cafe next door serves modern Australian cuisine with a hint of Middle Eastern flavours. 

This Deepavali, Terra Madre brings diners some of its favourites, as well as chef Gayatri Singh’s special dishes, with a Deepavali special set menu (S$58.99++ per person) from Oct 21 to Oct 23 for dinner. 

Start off with either the paneer methi, a curry made with fresh fenugreek leaves and soft curd cubes, or the lamb galouti kebabs — minced mutton. Then choose your main of a prawn moilee (a South Indian light prawn curry with coconut milk), murgh makhni (butter chicken), or aachari paneer (curd cubes in a creamy masala gravy with pickled spices). 

As with all Indian food, you’ll need something to mop up that gravy with. Choose rice or paratha to go with your main. 

Then end off with cardamom and saffron rabri, a type of sweet porridge, for dessert. The set also comes served with a glass of wine, dal angara (a fiery dahl dish), and pickled onion. 

Do note that its e-store is being upgraded at the moment.

3. Tiffin Room

Raffles Singapore Grand Lobby, 1 Beach Road
Nearest MRT station: City Hall
Open: Daily (12pm to 2pm, 6.30pm to 9pm)

Serving the historic Raffles Singapore hotel since 1892, Tiffin Room is helmed by chef Kuldeep Negi. His take on North Indian cuisine is inspired by the Maharajas, using traditional cooking techniques and freshly ground spices.

One of the finer ways to enjoy the cuisine on the island, the restaurant is one of the oldest Indian establishments in Singapore as well. Luxuriously decorated, it retains its original wooden floorboards, has Chinese antiques and various tiffin boxes on display and two large ovalesque chandeliers above.

From Oct 10 to Oct 24, its Diwali experience (S$108++ per person) or Diwali vegetarian experience (S$98++ per person) is an exploration of India’s different states, starting with the appetisers. You’ll get two dishes: Delhi’s dal pakori (deep-fried lentil fritters), and Gujarat’s fafda chaat (gram flour crackers topped with chickpeas, chutney and potatoes). 

The mains come in tiffin boxes and fluffy biryani rice, of course. You’ll get the methi gosht — saddles of lamb marinated with fenugreek and spices; mahi musallam — Japanese sea bream with almond and cashew nut gravy; murgh dhansak, chicken with pineapple and spices; and Chettinad prawn biryani. 

Tiffin Room will also offer a Mithai gift box (S$68++ a box), curated by Negi, that comes in a gold and red box decorated with Rangoli motifs. The gift box is available on the hotel’s e-store. 

4. Firangi Superstar

20 Craig Road, 01-03
Nearest MRT station: Tanjong Pagar
Open: Monday to Friday (12pm to 2.30pm, 5.30pm to 10.30pm), Saturday (5.30pm to 10.30pm)

An immersive dining experience with rooms decorated to resemble train carriages and hunting trophy rooms, Firangi Superstar has never been one to shy away from a reason to celebrate. 

From Oct 17 to Oct 24, guests can opt for its A Night In The Lights “magical musical munificent” experience from 5.30pm to 12am. The set menu comprises five courses to be enjoyed in a dining room lit with candles, with vegetarian alternatives for non-meat eaters.

The tunes from tabla player Bobby Singh, a bansuri-flutist, and DJ Patrick Oliver cap off the festivities.

5. Yantra

Tanglin Mall, 01-129/130/131, 163 Tanglin Road
Nearest MRT station: Orchard
Open: Monday to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday (12pm to 3pm, 6.30pm to 10pm), Thursday (12pm to 3pm), Saturday (12pm to 10pm)

Treat your loved ones to India’s rare heritage recipes reimagined as delicate fine-dining dishes at the newly refreshed Yantra. 

Historian Pritha Sen has worked with executive chef Pinaki Ray and his team to recreate indigenous recipes found throughout India from the mountains of the Himalayas to Uttar Pradesh.

Enjoy Yantra classics such as butter chicken kulcha — butter chicken stuffed in whole wheat tandoori puffed bread — and Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani.

From royal households come the royalla vepudu — Andhra-style spiced prawns cooked in traditional clay earthenware, served on crispy appams with a tomato chutney (S$24) and murg ka sula — barbecued charcoal chicken made during royal hunts (S$22).

This Deepavali, Yantra will also be launching its retail space, Grand Trunk, which will bring in IKKIS, a line of kitchenware rooted in Indian tradition and reimagined for modern living.

Shahi Maharani, Firangi Superstar and Yantra are on the GrabFood delivery service. You can also book a ride to all the places in this article.