Alif

Well, late night joints are fewer and far between nowadays in Singapore so I’m very lucky to have discovered Alif Restaurant (I think renamed to Thohirah). I have no complains about the food. Price wise, it is a little more expensive but seriously, the only other option is McDonald’s at 12am so, I’ll take prata, tom yam soup and fresh hot food anytime. The interesting thing about most Indian Muslim restaurants is the payment procedure, which I can loosely describe as «trust in honesty of the patrons». You’ll know what I mean when you eat here.

I was really glad to have returned to this place on my most recent visit to Singapore. This is an outdoor eating area that has been at this location for a few years now (I also remember visiting here with relatives four years ago when I came to Singapore). They have a variety of tasty food options, and they feature a lot of Malay and Indian style dishes.
I’m a very hungry person, and since I’m more used to large American portions, I sample a variety of different dishes with each order. This time I tried the Mee Goreng Indian and Malay styles. For those of you who don’t know, or are not native to Singapore like me, Mee Goreng is a fried noodle dish, and depending on which style you get, different seasonings are used. I don’t remember which is which, as one style has a reddish color and the other more brown, but I really enjoyed both options. The food was flavorful and simply delicious. There was also a good meat to noodle ratio on my latest visit here, which is sometimes lacking at other food establishments because they would usually provide too much noodle and not enough meat. However, I found everything to be just right… I don’t come here often enough to know whether or not that was by chance, but regardless I was impressed with my order.
We had a large order, and the food was prepared for us very quickly, which always leaves me satisfied and impressed because that means I can get back to start eating sooner! I think my local relatives really enjoy this place, which probably speaks to its reputation and level of food taste and quality. It’s not a fine dining establishment, but sometimes these places where locals visit are the places where you can find the most delicious food! Definitely recommend this place if you are in the area!

First to order is the Teh Tarik. This should never be left out as this place does it great.
How can you not order prata here? The Egg Prata & Cheese Prata are great to satisfy your prata cravings!
The indian-​style Maggi Goreng is slightly spicy and savoury, much to my taste. The portion was just right too.
If you are around Bukit Gombak, this place can fulfill your stomach’s requirements, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Come to meal times, Alif Restaurant is always packed and finding a place to sit is an issue. Visited its prata stall on a sunday morning and the seats were almost taken. We didnt have a table to ourselves but to share with others.
The plain thosai was crispy thin served on the classic metal plate with 3 kinds of dips. The refreshing tartness of the thosai had been enjoyed together with the rich and spicy flavourful dips.
The masala thosai is a more popular variation, acommpanied by smashed spiced potatoes and different kinds different types of sambar (vegetarian curry). Simply Divine!

Alif does Malay and Indian Muslim food. There are many like it throughout Singapore, but Alif is one of the few of distinction and worthy of special mention. Just to give you a frame of reference, my standard is Zam Zam along N. Bridge Rd. Now Zam Zam is a restaurant Institution close to my heart cemented there by fond memories of my dad and I going there for breakfast or late lunch on weekends, or heading there with Army buddies after booking out on Saturdays while serving National Service. Okay so this review is turning out to be more of a review about Zam Zam than Alif.
The prata and murtabaks here have the crispy skin of light a light fluffy well-​kneaded dough (with plenty of ghee! whee!) that is griddle-​crisped to light brown perfection. Zam Zam has started using olive oil, but I grew up with Muslim Indian food which menu items revolved like planets around a bright yellow sun of ghee!
The curries here are bold. I usually opt for the fish curry because I enjoy the tang of tamarind colliding with brash spicy notes of curry powder and curry leaf. Few things are better or more local than prata plaster. For the uninitiated, plaster has less to do with caulking or speckling and more to do with band-​aids and scabs. The egg over easy is «plastered» onto the prata. Pure genius. I grew up with prata in the age before dinosaurs, milo dinosaurs that is, so I still just have it with what I associate most closely with prata and murtabak, teh halia or ginger milk tea.
Alif is a heartland refuge from mediocre food. There’s gems all over the Western heartland, just like Alif. Go West, young Unilocaler!

fantastic fresh prata! and fish curry! mushroom prata was not bad, some bits were super crisp like the plain. but i’m kind of a purist and enjoy my plain prata :) thosai looked gd too, will be back to try that! indian food goes so well w iced milo… mmm.

This is one of my favorite places for malay food! The owners are always so friendly and the food here is great!
So anyway, let’s talk about the food. I have had the prata here on many occasions, and I have tried many of their varieties of prata. My favorite is the cheese prata, which consists of melted cheese on the prata. Somehow, eating it together with the curry gives it a very satisfying taste, although the whole combination must be pretty sinful.
I’ve also tried the beehoon goreng with egg and fried chicken, and I love this dish as well. It was not that oily and the fried chicken was nice and crispy. I always top my meal off with a iced teh and this does not disappoint as well. Overall, a great place to enjoy some good old Malay food, and especially good for chilling out with friends.