Madras New Woodlands Restaurant

Madras New Woodlands Restaurant is a South Indian vegetarian restaurant at 14 Upper Dickson Road in Little India. It is a simple, casual place known for dosai, idli, vadai and thali set meals.

The restaurant sits on a short side street off Serangoon Road, a little away from the main crowds. It is popular with locals, and some regulars have been coming for decades.

A Little India favourite since 1983

Mr A Dinakaran opened the restaurant in 1983. He named it after the New Woodlands Hotel in Chennai, the Indian city once called Madras. The two businesses are not linked, beyond cooking the same style of food. HappyCow describes the restaurant as family-run.

What to order

The menu covers the everyday dishes of southern India, and everything is meat-free. Good choices include:

• Masala dosa, a thin, crisp crepe of rice and lentil batter, filled with spiced potato
• Idli, soft steamed rice cakes, served with sambar (a lentil and vegetable stew)
• Vadai, savoury fried lentil doughnuts
• Upma, semolina cooked with spices into a soft, porridge-like dish
• Pongal, rice and lentils cooked until soft, a classic breakfast dish
• Puri, puffed fried bread
• Paal appam, soft rice pancakes served with sweet coconut milk

For a full meal, order a thali. The VIP thali brings rice, bread and a selection of curries on one plate. The menu also has chaat, the tangy snacks of Indian street food. On the World of Mouth app, chef Ivan Brehm singles out the chaat, the appam and the dosai.

Good to know before you go

• The whole menu is vegetarian. That makes it an easy pick for groups with mixed diets.
• Vegans should ask the staff which dishes can be made without dairy. Guides suggest asking for the VIP thali without ghee (clarified butter).
• Come in the morning for the freshest breakfast dishes, such as dosai, vadai and pongal. Reports differ on when appam is served, so check with the staff.
• The food can be quite spicy, so ask if you prefer it mild.
• The room is plain and busy, and it can get crowded at peak times.

Nearby

Upper Dickson Road is a few steps from the shops and temples of Little India. For more vegetarian Indian food, try Komala Vilas or Ananda Bhavan. The food stalls at Tekka Centre are also close by.

Before you go, read our list of dishes to try in Little India and how banana leaf rice works. You can also browse Indian restaurants in Singapore, our vegetarian and vegan guides and all restaurants in Little India and Jalan Besar.