Why a 'Curry Strip' runs through Little India

Race Course Road takes its name from the original Singapore Sporting Club racetrack that ran here from 1843 to 1933. After the racecourse closed and moved to Bukit Timah, the land was gradually built up with shophouses. From the late 1940s and through the 1960s, Tamil and Punjabi migrants opening eateries clustered along this stretch — partly because rents were affordable, partly because the area was already established as 'Indian Singapore'. By the 1970s, when Muthu's Curry, Banana Leaf Apolo, and a dozen others were operating within 400 metres of one another, the strip had earned its informal title. Walk it today and you can taste your way from Tamil Nadu to Kerala to Punjab in under an hour.