The Banana Leaf Apolo

Most restaurants are named after a person or a place. This one went with a moon mission.

Come to The Banana Leaf Apolo for the fish head curry, with friends, and eat off the leaf with your right hand. It is the dish that tells you what Singapore eats when its kitchens run into each other: a South Indian curry, a snapper head the Chinese side of the family would recognise and pineapple in the pot. It is a sharing dish priced by size, so the main compromise is that it works best as a group outing; a big group should phone first, because there is no online booking.

Why it’s worth it

The curry first. A whole snapper head is simmered in a spice mix and finished with tamarind water, tomatoes, okra and pineapple, which keeps it sharp and savoury rather than heavy. Order it for the table, and leave the arguments about who gets the cheeks to the table.

Then the leaf. The menu explains that serving guests on a banana leaf is Indian hospitality, and you are invited to eat with your fingers, as is traditional. Rice goes on the leaf, vegetable sides are spooned around it, papadums go on top, and the rest is up to you and your right hand. Refills of rice, vegetables and papadum have long been free, which in a city of shrinking portions is its own kind of hospitality.

And the name, which is worth the story. The founder, S. Chellappan, named the business after Apollo 11, the 1969 moon mission, then dropped an l because he believed in numerology. It began in 1974 as a thosai stall on Cuff Road before settling on Race Course Road, and the family’s S. Rajeswari and S. Nirmal Raj now run it.

How to do it well

Go as a group so the fish head makes sense, and fill in from the restaurant’s own list of signatures: flower crab, mutton biryani, tandoori chicken, a naan platter and vegetarian meals. The fish head is priced by size, so ask when you order rather than at the till.

Wear something that can take a fleck of curry; eating with your hands is a skill, and the first attempt is rarely tidy. Early evening is the calmer time to come if you want to talk as well as eat. It opens daily, through lunch and dinner.

It is about three minutes’ walk from Exit E of Little India MRT. Come hungry, and bring the friend who has been saying for years that they would try fish head curry one day.

Good to know About three minutes’ walk from Little India MRT (Exit E). Hours are in the facts box. The official site lists no online booking, so call ahead for a big group. The fish head is priced by size; check when you order.

The Banana Leaf Apolo | 54 Race Course Road, Singapore 218564 | Nearest MRT: Little India