Since my maiden trip to India in 2019 December, I have been craving for some authentic Northern Indian cuisine. While we have many Indian hawker stalls selling Indian fare, the taste is more localized and slightly different from what I had in Delhi or Agra so I pestered my travel mate to journey to Dickson road for a popular restaurant serving various Northern Indian dishes
Nestled along Dickson road which is located in the vicinity of Little India, it is not difficult to find many big and small coffee shops and cafes selling Indian food but Gokul is one of the more famous one.
Housed in an old shop house, Gokul occupies a rather huge spacious area with a large dining capacity. However, with the safe distancing restrictions, many of the tables are marked out and not used so seating is quite limited. We visited during a non peak timing so the crowd was not overwhelming.
The furnishing is basic and fuss free more like your local cafeteria than a high end restaurant. Water was provided complimentary via a glass bottle.
The amazing thing about Gokul is that they serve a variety of vegetarian cuisine from local Indian dishes like roti prata to North and South Indian to Singaporean styled dishes like Laksa, Hokkien mee to Peranakan dishes like Ikan panggang ( vegan fish ). If you are dining here with a group, there is no need to restrict just to one type of cuisine. You can find their menu here.
Since I came specially for Northern Indian cuisine, we ordered the aloo gobi which is a stir fry dish of potatoes, cauliflower and mixed spices. For SGD 9, the serving was just nice for 2 persons to share which is slightly pricey. The flavours were very on point and extremely authentic as the gravy had a good and thick consistency and spices came through really well. The dish was highly comparable to what I had in Northern India.
The 2nd dish we had was the bhindi masala which was a sauteed dish of ladies fingers cooked in semi gravy style. For SGD 9, the serving was the same which was good for sharing for 2 persons. The ladies fingers were well cooked and soft and the light and creamy gravy complemented the dish extremely well. Just like the aloo gobi, this was highly authentic in terms of taste.
I ordered a plain naan at SGD 2.50 to eat with the dishes and the naan were quite well baked with no over burnt bits.
My travel mate had her paper dosa at SGD 6 which is also much expensive compared to a normal hawker stall. The dosa is like a very thin crepe which is eaten with chutney and sambar. The flavours of the chutney were not too bad but as I was not a fan of sambar, I did not give it a try. The dosa was also well made with a nice brown crisp on the outside.
Overall, Gokul has a spacious and nice environment to satisfy those cravings for any Indian cuisine and even if you have friends who prefer local dishes, Gokul has them covered. Being a full vegetarian restaurant, you can bring your vegetarian/ vegan friends to enjoy a meat free meal. Personally, I love that their Northern dishes are extremely authentic and on point in terms of the taste and brings me back to my India trip almost instantly. While the price is not the most pocket friendly, they will be my go to place until I find another place with equal standards but more friendly prices.
Address: 19 Upper Dickson Rd, Singapore 207478
Operating hours: 10.30 am to 3 pm and 6 pm to 10 pm ( Mon to Thurs) and 10.30 am to 10 pm ( Fri to Sun)
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