The Little India & Kampong Glam Trail

Start where Little India starts its day. Tekka has been feeding this neighbourhood since 1915, when it opened as Kandang Kerbau market, Malay for buffalo pens, a nod to the cattle trade that once ran along these streets. The Hokkien nickname, Tek Kia Kha, came from the bamboo that grew along the Rochor Canal, and the name stuck through every rebuild until it became Tekka Centre in 2000. Downstairs, the hawker centre is already loud by 8am: prata hitting the griddle, biryani pots being lifted open, and tea being pulled from a height. Eat at Ar-Rahman first, then walk over to Allauddin's for a plate of biryani to share.

Step out of Tekka and onto Serangoon Road, one of the oldest roads in Singapore. Walk past the flower stalls threading jasmine and marigold into garlands, the gold shops, the spice merchants and the sari fabric stores. Turn into Campbell Lane, home of the Indian Heritage Centre, then wander up to Kerbau Road to find the former House of Tan Teng Niah. Built in 1900, it is the last surviving Chinese villa in Little India, and it belonged to a towkay who owned sugarcane-processing sweet factories along Serangoon Road. In one short walk you will see Tamil, Chinese and colonial Singapore sharing the same few streets.

Founded as early as 1855 by Indian pioneers, this temple began as a small shrine and grew into one of the most important Hindu temples in Singapore. It is dedicated to Kali, the goddess who destroys evil, and her many forms fill the interior. During the Second World War, people who sheltered here from the air raids were largely unharmed, a story still told in the neighbourhood. Stand across Serangoon Road first and take in the gopuram, the carved entrance tower, crowded with painted figures. Then go in quietly.

Walk back down Serangoon Road to Little India Arcade, a row of conserved shophouses dating to the 1920s, and find the sweet shop inside. The glass counter is a full spectrum of North Indian mithai: syrup-soaked gulab jamun, bright orange jalebi coiled like a puzzle, motichoor ladoo made of tiny beads of fried gram flour, dense karachi halwa. Sweets here are bought by the piece, which means you can try four things without guilt. It is a fitting stop after Tan Teng Niah's house: sugar built part of this street.

From Little India Arcade, walk south-east across Rochor Canal towards Victoria Street and Arab Street, about 20 minutes on foot, and the golden dome of Sultan Mosque will appear over the shophouse roofs. Directly across North Bridge Road from it is Zam Zam, cooking murtabak and biryani on this street since 1908. A murtabak is a prata stuffed with spiced minced meat, egg and onion, folded into a thick parcel and griddled until the edges crisp. Here it comes sized small, medium or large, cut into squares, with a bowl of curry and a little pickled onion. It is one of the great Indian Muslim dishes of Singapore, and this is one of the places that made it famous.

Walk off lunch through the oldest corners of Kampong Glam. Arab Street still has its textile and rug merchants, bolts of fabric stacked to the ceiling. Haji Lane, one of the narrowest streets in the district, is lined with low shophouses painted in bold colours, murals and independent shops. Then turn onto Bussorah Street, the palm-lined pedestrian street that frames the mosque dome perfectly at its end. This is the classic Kampong Glam view, and it is worth standing still for.

Its history goes back to 1824, when land was set aside here for a royal mosque. The building you see was completed in 1932, designed by the Irish architect Denis Santry of Swan & Maclaren, with golden onion domes that have defined the Kampong Glam skyline ever since. Look closely at the base of each dome: there is a belt of glass bottle ends, collected and donated by poorer residents who could not give money but wanted to give something. It is a National Monument, and it is still very much a working mosque.

End with something cold, a few doors up North Bridge Road from where you had lunch. Momolato is a homegrown gelato shop founded by Sharon Tay, who won the Asia Pacific leg of the Gelato World Tour. The flavours run from bright and floral to rich and nutty, with Middle Eastern touches like kunafa that suit this neighbourhood well. After a full day of prata, biryani, mithai and murtabak, a scoop of hibiscus is exactly the reset you need.