Budget
Komala Vilas
A Singaporean institution featuring purely vegetarian Indian food. Downstairs is fast food, head up for restaurant-style seating and serving. Sets start at less than $3 and even the largest platter of breads and dips will cost less than $7. Note that gourmands prefer the original outlet over the many franchised fast-food copies, and that not all dishes are available all day. South Indian set meal upstairs is $6.50 with top-ups.
Sagar Ratna
Opened in the second half of 2005. Franchisee of a South Indian restaurant from Delhi, and serves up decent fare for reasonable prices. Set meals $5-7 are good value, ordering a la carte will cost you more. The rasam spicy lentil soup in particular never fails to impress. Strictly pure vegetarian.
Kasturi Restaurant
North Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani cuisine, meals from $2 upwards.
Saravana Bhavan
The Singapore branch of a restaurant chain from Chennai, serving up vegetarian Indian food. Get a massive set lunch for $4.80 or just order your favorites for a few dollars a piece. Try the rava dosa, a steal at $2.60.
Midrange
Lagnaa
Delicious Indian food from a very friendly owner. Upstairs is barefoot only with a very relaxed atmosphere. Offers cooking courses and also a "slave" deal: work for 3 hours to have one wish granted. Not especially cheap or authentic, but seen as fun and good for backpackers. Try the rum-chai.
Khansama
Cheap coffeeshop-style eats downstairs under $5 and a midrange A/C restaurant upstairs mains $5-10. Generous portions if you don't mind their touts. Best known for its tandoori dishes and a wide selection of chaat appetizers.
Banana Leaf Apolo
A well-known place for all sorts of South Indian food; no prizes for guessing what serves as the plate. Most visitors come here for the fish head curry, even the "small" size is enough for 3-4 and will cost you $18, plus $2.50 a head for rice, pappadams and dips.
Muthus Curry
Muthu's has a respectable claim to coming up with the idea of fish head curry; now run by the founder's son, this shop continues to draw the crowds.
Waiter, there's a fish head in my curry
One speciality of Little India is fish head curry, a uniquely Singaporean dish. It's one of the stranger-sounding and admittedly stranger-looking dishes around: no, you don't eat the head itself, but there's plenty of meat to be found inside as the head in question barely fits on a plate! Cooked so long that it falls apart when poked at, just dig in and pile up the bones on your table. Eyeballs are not eaten, but the Chinese think the connective tissue behind it is the best part of the dish.
There are two types of fish head curry in Singapore, Chinese and Indian. Little India's fish head places unsurprisingly mostly serve the Indian kind, which is usually spicy and hot. Most specialty restaurants are on or near Race Course Rd, conveniently located between the Little India and Farrer Park MRT stations.
The thing to eat in Little India is obviously Indian food. Both southern and northern cuisines are well represented, food is cheap even by Singaporean standards, portions are generous and vegetarians in particular will have a field day. Note that these are authentic Indian places and people around you will be eating the way Indians do, namely by hand — it's best to shed your inhibitions and dig in, although cutlery can be provided on request.
Delhi Restaurant
Offers a more upmarket experience with vested waiters and a stack of awards posted on the wall. The menu features northern Indian food and has non-vegetarian selections as well; order a couple of Kingfisher beers to get pappadam with an excellent mint dip on the house.