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Balasubramanian Swaminathan | IMAWS (cbedit@imaws.org)

Singapore: Indian Restaurants Association Singapore (IRAS), one of Asia’s leading food associations, in 2024, will aim at giving more prominence for conserving the Indian culture and tradition through food in Singapore. Started in 1997 with very few members, this association is actively working with close to 60 restaurant owners across Singapore. Speaking to ‘Kitchen Herald’, S Mahenthiran, Honorary Secretary of the association says 2024 will be an year to focus on conserving the Indian food culture in Singapore with special attention to sustainability.

Activities of the association:

“Started only on the main motive to be a good bridge between the Government, restaurant owners and guests, this association is evolving day to day. We keep conducting awareness campaigns regarding the government policies related to food, safety, employment aspects, wages for the workers and more.”, says Mahenthiran further adding that the association’s biggest feather on the cap till now is addressing the key challenge of the restaurant owners – lack of skilled manpower which was existing for almost a decade from 2004.  The forum keeps giving awareness among the members related to aspects like progressive wage model, usage of automation on cooking and more.

Challenges in the industry:

 Citing the challenges, Mahenthiran says, COVID gave a tight slap on the businesses in Singapore. “Our economy was dependent on various factors and tourism was one of the major income generator for the restaurants in Singapore, especially in Little India neighbourhood, the hub of Indian restaurants. China, Indonesia and India are the places where most tourists come to Singapore. Post COVID, as tourists stopped coming, we had a huge impact as we found many restaurant owners downed their shutters permanently.” Another key aspect to the business is that the consistent fluctuation in the price of the raw materials in the market.

According to him, the taste of the Indian food depends heavily on the quality of the raw materials and ingredients. “For example, the taste of the Indian food heavily depends on the onions imported from India which might not be achieved when we use Malaysian onion.  Or there are some instances where the ban of rice from India might force us to import from Pakistan which will again hit our margins as we had to pay extra due to the demand-supply gap.”, he avers. He is also bullish about the Singapore Government’s initiative to self-sustain in all forms of agriculture by 2030 and says, Singapore will be in new heights the day when innovation in farming happens where farm-to-fork chain will happen within Singapore.

Association’s plans in 2024:

The not-for-profit association is always inclusive and welcomes all Indian restaurant owners in the country with open arms. “While we do not force anyone to join, we are always open for increasing the membership. In the last one year, we had a slight decline in the membership. However, we shall be getting more members added to our list.”, the Secretary says further adding that the association will keep working closely with the Government and other communities for all their needs. The association also wants to keep the Indian heritage, culture and tradition live in Singapore through food. “We [Indian restaurants in Singapore] consistently innovate to being unique dishes which finds its birth place in Singapore. For instance, the cuisine ‘Fish head curry’ was conceptualized in Singapore and it is available only here. Thus, we find new avenues to curate Indian food in Singapore style and vice-versa.”, he noted.

With the New Year had born, all the restaurateurs are on a wait-and-watch mode sans massive expansion plans. “I can call it a soft-landing as many economies are now facing a crunch and the impact might hit everywhere. On a larger perspective while economists predict the market, on a micro-level, organizations aim only for sustainability. Most of them are in the mood to manage and swim during this fast phasing economic tide”, he concluded.

Some of the notable members of the association:

While the association have plenty of valuable restaurant owners as part of the members, here are some sample restaurants which one can look at in Singapore.

Jaggi’s North Indian Cuisine:

Jaggi’s North Indian Cuisine was founded by Mr. Gurcharan Singh 1995, in Kerbau Road. Mr. Singh was a career soldier serving in the Singapore Armed Force’s elite Guards unit holding the rank of Sergeant as a Physical Training Instructor before leaving the service in 1991 and venturing into the F&B industry. Completed the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Diploma in Food & Beverage management in September 2005, enhancing his management knowledge of the industry as his business was expanding rapidly and it became imperative to understand the technical aspects of how the Company should run it’s outlets according to industry standards.

Gandhi Restaurant

Formerly known as Gandhi Eating House, is a home-grown brand that started its roots along Serangoon Road. Our Founder, Mr. C. Packirisamy, had only one purpose in mind – to deliver traditional South Indian food with an authentic experience. We started in the early 1970s as a small stall along busy Serangoon Road. Then, there were not a lot of choices for traditional South Indian cuisine in Singapore. In addition, most restaurants do not serve South Indian food the original way. Our Founder saw this as a gap and proceeded to build this restaurant to give locals and tourists the Authentic, Traditional South Indian Food Experience.

Komala’s Restaurant:

Komala’s Restaurants brings you the finest south Indian meals through 9 outlets island wide. Komala’s Restaurants is a fast food self-service concept offering traditional Indian vegetarian food in a western setting. Fusion dining is Indian cuisine mixed with local varied selections. The Komala’s Group was founded by Mr M.Rajoo and it started as a single restaurant serving traditional south Indian vegetarian meals. The restaurant has built up a high reputation for its quality, value-for-money authentic Indian food, as well as its commitment to cleanliness and hygiene. It is the commitment to such values that earned Komala ‘s popularity with the Indians, Malays, Chinese and tourists throughout its 75-year history in Singapore. Komala’s Restaurants, an operating division of The Komala’s Group, led by M Rajoo’s son, R.T. Sekar, spearheaded the inception of two new dining concepts of Indian vegetarian food – Komala’s Restaurants Fast Food and Komala’s Fusion Dining.

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