Tiffin Room
The Tiffin Room has been part of Raffles Hotel history since 1892. Although the interior décor has been restored, it retains touches from its earlier years such as wooden floorboards dating to the early 1900s.
Today, diners come for the North Indian specialities by Chef Kuldeep Negi. When we turned up for lunch on a weekday, there were friends catching up, couples on vacation and working professionals sharing a business lunch.
The revitalised menu includes tableside service as well as a tiffin-box experience. The latter comprises traditional tiffin boxes, which in India are packed with meals lovingly prepared by mothers or wives for their loved ones to enjoy at work or school. I was so taken by the copper tiffin boxes that I wanted to cart an empty set home, taking a piece of history with me!
At the Tiffin Room, the Mera Dabba set-meal experience is presented in custom-made, four-tier copper tiffin boxes. You can customise it with North Indian curries; we recommend the balti gosht of tender lamb leg cubes and the fresh, sweet kadhai prawn. To open the palate for the curries were a choice of two appetisers – we opted for grilled Indian cottage cheese flavoured with curry leaves and grilled corn-fed chicken breast with garam masala. This is complemented with organic black lentil curry, saffron flavoured basmati rice, tandoori naans, chutneys and pickles. There's a sweet ending too, with a serving of rasmalai and gulab jamun topped with minced pistachios.
We ended the exquisite experience with a cup of masala chai redolent with cardamom, just as we like it.
Raffles Hotel Singapore, 1 Beach Road 6412 1816 | tiffinroom.com.sg