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The Best Indian Restaurants In Melbourne
Spice up your next dinner date with the best Indian restaurants in Melbourne.
The best Indian restaurants in Melbourne are never just about butter chicken, though yes, a great one still has its place. Across the city, Indian dining ranges from chaat and pani puri to tandoor smoke, regional curries, banana-leaf thalis, fine-dining tasting menus, and desserts built to cool the chilli glow. Some rooms run old-school and family-led; others take Indian technique somewhere sharper, stranger and more contemporary.
From Carlton and Brunswick to the CBD, Fairfield and beyond, these are the Melbourne Indian restaurants worth booking when spice, generosity and serious flavour are calling.
Thaali Indian Restaurant
Thaali understands the pleasure of abundance. On Station Street in Fairfield, this northside favourite centres its menu on the thali, that wonderfully civilised idea of many small things arriving at once: curries, daal, rice, bread, pickle, chutney and something sweet to finish. Pani puri, papri chaat, vada pav and tandoor dishes tempt from the edges, but the joy here is the spread itself: generous, colourful and built for indecisive appetites.
120 Station Street, Fairfield
Saadi
Saadi is the rare CBD restaurant that seems to have arrived with both memory and nerve intact. On Punch Lane, in the former Sunda space, chefs Saavni Krishnan and Sriram Aditya cook Indian food through a seasonal Melbourne lens, drawing on regional references, family recollection and sharp contemporary technique. There is heat, crunch and sourness in all the right places, and enough intelligence on the plate to feel exciting without ever becoming smug.
18 Punch Lane, Melbourne
Kolkata Cricket Club
Kolkata Cricket Club is one of Melbourne’s most interesting Indian dining moves, led by Mischa Tropp of Toddy Shop and built around the romance of old Bengali cricket clubs. The front bar handles snacks, beer and match-day energy, while the dining room shifts into white linen, Jaipur lamps and a deeper Bengali brief. Go for puchka, tandoor, hot naan, seafood, kosha mangsho goat curry and the butter chicken that has already gathered a reputation. The drinks list plays its part too, with cricket-club cocktails and Indian-Australian winemakers woven through the page.
Level 1, Crown Melbourne, 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank
Bibi Ji
Bibi Ji has turned Carlton’s old Cafe Notturno site into a gleeful Indian diner of banana-leaf thalis, chutneys, curries, cocktails and Lygon Street momentum. From the Daughter in Law and Horn Please crew, the menu moves through street snacks, tandoor, butter chicken, goat curry, dal makhani and paneer, but the thali is the order that makes sense of the room: chutneys, rice, curries, bread and snacks spread across a banana leaf, made for sharing, passing and ordering another drink.
179 Lygon Street, Carlton
Kahaani
Kahaani means story in Hindi, and this Carlton Indian restaurant takes the idea seriously. On Lygon Street, the menu travels through regional recipes, home kitchens, railway-station snacks and dishes rarely flattened into the usual curry-house shorthand. Start with battered kale leaf chaat, pani puri or slow-braised goat keema pav, then move into richer plates like goat curry or Kokan king prawn curry with coconut and mustard. It’s one of Melbourne’s best Indian restaurants for anyone ready to leave butter chicken autopilot behind.
262 Lygon Street, Carlton
Bhang
Bhang is the Brunswick Indian restaurant we send people to when they ask where to eat and we want to look clever. Inside its converted warehouse, the room runs loud and generous, with tandoor, curries, charred flatbreads, sharp cocktails and snacks built for ordering far too much. The crispy spinach chaat is non-negotiable: crackly, tangy, cooling, spiced and ridiculous in the best possible way. Stay for lamb ribs, butter chicken, naan and one more round. This is Indian dining with a pulse, a point of view and a very loyal following.
1/2A Mitchell Street, Brunswick
Elchi
Elchi lies behind the grand neoclassical facade of the former Herald and Weekly Times building, turning Flinders Street into a more glamorous proposition for Indian dining. Chef Manpreet Sekhon’s menu moves through tandoor, curries, naan and regional signatures with a confident modern hand, from 24-karat gold chicken mussalam and pistachio lamb chops to gunpowder gobhi and Amritsari fish. It’s a CBD Indian restaurant made for date nights, private dinners and anyone who likes their butter chicken with a little architectural drama.
72 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Enter Via Laundry
Enter Via Laundry began as the Melbourne dinner reservation people spoke about like folklore: ten guests at Helly Raichura’s Box Hill home, a waitlist in the thousands, then a MasterChef appearance that sent demand into orbit. Now settled in Carlton North, Raichura’s restaurant remains one of Melbourne’s most singular Indian dining experiences, tracing the subcontinent through regional recipes, migration, memory and meticulous research. The menu shifts every few months, with each course carrying its own story. Book ahead, arrive curious and forget every lazy idea you’ve ever heard about “Indian food.”
507 Nicholson Street, Carlton North
Horn Please
Horn Please turns Fitzroy North into a riotous Indian feast, with street snacks, tandoor, curries and cocktails built for full tables and loud appetites. Start with gol gappa, papdi chaat and Colonel Tso cauliflower before moving into tandoori chicken, butter chicken, village lamb curry, dal and paneer makhni. The Feed Me menu is the smartest move when decisions feel too hard, while weekend bottomless brunch turns lunch into a very good idea.
167 Saint Georges Road, Fitzroy North
Tonka
Down Duckboard Place, Tonka still feels like a Melbourne rite of passage: white tablecloths, low light, good wine and Indian cooking with a sharp contemporary edge. The menu moves with confidence, from pani puri bright with date and tamarind to Crystal Bay prawn betel leaf, yellowfin tuna tartare, tandoori chicken, Meredith ex-dairy goat and confit duck makhani. Order naan for dragging through sauce, rice for good manners, and let the table turn gloriously, deliciously untidy.
20 Duckboard Place, Melbourne
Gaylord Indian Restaurant
Gaylord has been part of Melbourne’s Indian dining scene for decades, now set inside the grand old bones of the Grand Hotel on Spencer Street. Beneath ornate ceilings and handcrafted marble paintings, the menu stays classic: tandoori from the clay oven, biryani, rich curries, Bengali fish curry, chicken tikka and goat built for spooning over rice with naan close by. Come for a CBD Indian dinner with history behind it, or gather the crew for its Indian street food bottomless brunch.
Sitchu Tip: The bottomless brunch runs on weekends, with Indian street food and drinks for $55pp.
Grand Hotel, 33 Spencer Street, Docklands
Daughter in Law
Daughter in Law wears “unauthentic Indian” as its calling card, and the Little Bourke Street dining room has the colour, cocktails and loosened-up spirit to match. Chef Jessi Singh’s menu plays freely with street food, curries, tandoor and grill, from Colonel Tso’s cauliflower to butter chicken, lamb curry, fried chicken and chaat. It’s Indian food with the volume turned up, made for group dinners, natural wine, cocktails and a night that refuses to behave too neatly.
37/41 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Atta
Atta is Albert Park’s grand Indian dinner house, set inside a heritage-listed former Greek taverna where white beams, archways and candlelit tables frame the room without stealing from the plate. Chef Harry Dhanjal’s menu treats Indian food with care and curiosity, folding tandoor, spice, smoke and modern technique into dishes that feel considered rather than showy. Seasonal menus move across the country’s culinary traditions, with sharp service and a wine list built for a longer night.
159/161 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park
Chapati
Chapati has brought its colour, spice and street-food spirit to Crossley Street, taking over the former Gingerboy site with a CBD outpost built for chaat, curries, tandoori, pepper prawns and crisp-edged comfort. Named for the everyday Indian flatbread, the menu moves across the country rather than staying in one lane, from plump momos and sizzling prawns to Kerala-style fish moilee and richer winter curries. Upstairs, Daaru keeps the night going with desi cocktails and a sharper after-dark mood.
Ground Floor/27-29 Crossley Street, Melbourne
Mukka
Mukka has earned its place as one of Melbourne’s go-to Indian restaurants, with colourful rooms, Bollywood energy and a menu that moves from street eats to full-bodied curries with ease. Settle in for chicken tikka masala, slow-cooked goat curry, biryani, samosas and crisp dosas, with the smoky eggplant version a strong meat-free move. Order cocktails, lassis and a table full of naan, and suddenly winter feels far more manageable.
366 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
16 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
Masti
Masti doesn’t bother with restraint. It hits Brunswick Street in a clatter of Punjabi street food, tandoori smoke and cocktails with teeth. Chef Manpreet Sekhon sends out papdi chaat, lamb seekh, Amritsari fish, honey-chilli cauliflower, butter chicken, and 24-hour black dal with the confidence of someone who knows hunger is best answered loudly. Add vegan naan, a full vegan menu and a rum-spiked mango lassi, then surrender.
354-356 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
ISH
ISH keeps its name honest: Indian-ish, Melbourne-ish, and far cleverer than the label suggests. On Gertrude Street, this modern Indian restaurant in Melbourne moves from dahi puri and vada pav to roti duck tacos, kingfish ceviche, burrata papdi chaat and coconut-rich moilee without losing the scent of the tandoor. Butter chicken still has its place, but the thrill is how tradition slips into sharper clothes with cocktails keeping pace well into the night on Gertrude.
199 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Delhi Streets
Delhi Streets brings Indian street food to a bright CBD dining room, all colour, chaat and Katherine Place energy. Start with hands-on pani puri, crisp shells stuffed with potato, chickpeas and chutneys, then chase it with naan pizzas, thali, biryani, tandoori plates and Indian sweets. Casual, generous and full of spice, it remains one of Melbourne’s best Indian restaurants for lunch, dinner or city cravings.
22 Katherine Place, Melbourne
Curry Cafe
Curry Cafe has been feeding Northcote since 1995, and there is a reason High Street keeps going back. The curries are the main event here, built on whole spices roasted and ground in-house, free-range meat and a menu that treats vegetarian and vegan diners with genuine care.
Go classic with butter chicken, lamb rogan josh or fish masala, or steer into eggplant curry, dal mushroom and pumpkin masala with mustard seeds, curry leaves and coconut milk. Add naan from the tandoor, saffron basmati or brown rice, and one of the street’s happiest Sunday dinner plans starts to make sense.
73 High Street, Northcote
Base Camp
Base Camp has been feeding Northcote its beloved Birmingham Balti curries since 2013, and the affection is well earned. This High Street favourite keeps things generous and spice-led, with naan straight from the tandoor, curries served in small Balti dishes and Nepalese momos with sesame tomato chutney.
The menu is especially good for mixed groups, with plenty for vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free diners and meat lovers alike. Order the butter paneer pasanda, make room for the momos and let this unshowy neighbourhood gem remind you why Northcote locals keep it close.
102 High Street, Northcote
Chilli India
Chilli India is the Melbourne Central hit for big, spice-laced Indian cravings, with biryani firmly at the centre of the table. The kitchen has spent years building its name on fragrant rice, slow warmth and generous serves, with chicken and goat biryani joined by vindaloo, tikka masala, chilli chicken, dosas and uttapams.
It is fast enough for a city lunch, satisfying enough for dinner and far more interesting than a last-minute food court fallback. Go for the biryani, stay for the South Indian snacks and leave with your spice levels suitably recalibrated.
Shop GD086, 211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne
Made your way through the best Indian restaurants in Melbourne and ready to continue eating your way around Asia? Get started on your culinary journey with our picks for the most delicious Japanese restaurants, Korean BBQ and dumplings in town.
