Song of India, The

Passionate executive chef Manjunath Mural is the driving force behind the modern Indian cuisine here. The cooking is refined Indian, using the potli method (where spices are bound in a muslin bag) so that sauces don’t have the grainy remnants of spices and seeds commonplace in most Indian restaurants. The result might seem jarring, but it means that sauces and marinades are smooth, almost like purées. Mural likes to balance flavours, so a spicy jumbo prawn might precede a tamer chicken dish, one whose aroma and taste bears little resemblance to the typical traditional Indian fare. Highlights include a soft Awadhi lamb with yoghurt sauce that’s moist with a delicate undercurrent of spice, and a creamy Alphonso mango kulfi that isn’t overly sweet. The exterior of the building recalls Singapore’s colonial heritage—a stately black-and-white with a garden setting that seems miles removed from the bustle of nearby Orchard Road.