Murugan Idli Shop – A Traditional South Indian Breakfast To Kick Start Your Day

Murugan Idli Shop is a humble eatery nestled along Syed Alwi Road that serves up authentic South Indian breakfast, lunch and dinner delights. Born out of a passion for food, this humble establishment has been serving exquisite vegetarian dishes since 1993.

As the shop’s name suggests, they are most well-known for their mouthwatering idli as well as their piping hot dosas, both of which are traditional and popular South Indian breakfast items commonly eaten throughout households in India. Have them along with their wide variety of chutneys, side dishes and podis (a coarse powder mixture of grounded spices).

For a truly unique taste of Southern India that you probably will not find in many places in Singapore, head on down to Murugan Idli Shop.

The restaurant takes on a pretty simple yet modern design. Fully air-conditioned, this makes for a good spot to get some quality grub while escaping from the scorching afternoon sun.

Upon getting yourself seated, the waiter automatically brings you a banana leaf ‘plate’ adorned with 4 different types of chutneys. Typically, they are coconut, mint, coriander and groundnut chutneys.

To place your order, simply grab an order sheet and mark down the quantity of whichever item you want. This takes the hassle out of flipping through pages of food items and it also spares you the embarrassment of accidentally mispronouncing the names of certain dishes.

For the uninitiated, Idli is a popular savoury South Indian breakfast dish that is made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils and rice. The fermentation process allows the rice cake to be easily metabolised by the body and is what gives this humble rice cake its distinct sour taste and white colour.

Fresh, hot and fluffy with just the right amount of sourness from the fermented batter the Idlis (S$1.75) served here at Murugan Idli is a real treat to start your day with. These bright white treats arrived at our table warm, dense with nice tight crumbs that begged to be soaked up with the assorted chutneys.

If India had their own version of Dunkin’ Donuts, we are pretty sure the Medivadai (S$1.75) would be among one of their hit doughnut offerings. This Indian fritter shaped like a doughnut was incredibly savoury, subtly spiced and would probably have gone beautifully with a hot cup of tea.

Dosais are large, crispy and savoury pancakes made using a type of fermented rice batter. Yet another popular breakfast item from South India, this dish bears similarities to a French crêpe. Our Dosai (S$3.60) was served to us crispy and warm.

Eaten with the sambar—which is essentially a lentil-based vegetable stew—this dish encompasses the elements of savoury, spicy, sour and sweet all in a single mouthful. We don’t know about you, but we could honestly wake up to this every day of the week!

To end off your meal on a sweet note, consider the Sweet Pongal (S$3.50), a sweet, aromatic dessert made from rice and spices. Although it comes served in small portions, we recommend sharing it because this unassuming dessert is incredibly sweet.

Murugan Idli Shop
81 Syed Alwi Road,
Singapore 207660
Tel: +65 6298 0858
Daily: 9am – 11pm
Nearest Station: Farrer Park