Best Indian Restaurants in Melbourne 2026

Melbourne has a legitimate case for being Australia's best city for Indian food. The depth here is extraordinary — from a 9-course regional degustation in Carlton to a $14 dosa in Dandenong, and almost everything in between. And unlike some cities, Melbourne's Indian dining scene leans adventurous. Chefs here take regional cuisines seriously.

The One Everyone Talks About: Enter Via Laundry

20 seats. You get the address only after you book. Chef Helly Raichura changes her menu seasonally, taking diners through a different region of India each time — Bengal's fish-forward coastal cooking one month, Kashmir's lamb-heavy kitchen the next. The matched wine pairing is exceptional. The entire experience takes three hours. This is Indian food at a level most Indian Australians have never experienced in a restaurant setting.

Book well in advance. It fills weeks out. Worth every effort.

Fitzroy, Collingwood and the Inner North

• Cafe Southall — The neighbourhood Indian done right: reliable, warming, unpretentious. The lamb rogan josh and garlic naan are the benchmarks. The kind of place you visit every week.
• Delhi Streets (CBD) — Perennially packed. South Indian dosas alongside Mumbai street food and a few Indo-Western crossovers. The energy matches the food.
• Babaji's (Inner North) — Keralan home cooking at its truest. The banana leaf sadya is Melbourne's best. Come for the food, stay for the chai served in brass dabara tumblers.

Dandenong and the South-East

If Harris Park is Sydney's Little India, Dandenong is Melbourne's. The area south-east of the city has the highest density of South Asian-owned restaurants in Victoria. Prices are lower, portions are bigger, and the food is often more authentic than anything you will find closer to the CBD.

For Punjabi dhabha-style cooking, look for the smaller family-run spots on Foster Street and Walker Street in Dandenong. Mustard oil, charcoal, slow-cooked dal, roti made fresh to order. The genuine article.

Best for Special Occasions

• Amaru (South Yarra) — Fine dining Indian meets Victorian produce. The menu is a love letter to northern India — Amritsari fish, butter chicken, paneer tikka — with obsessive attention to detail.
• Daughter in Law (Adelaide, but worth mentioning for interstate visitors) — The most inventive Indian restaurant in Australia. Self-described as 'inauthentic', the menu combines Australian and Asian ingredients. The vegetarian truffle biryani pie is extraordinary.

What Melbourne Does Differently

Melbourne's Indian food scene rewards curiosity in a way few cities do. You can find Keralan sadya, Bengali fish dishes, Fijian-Indian fusion (yes, it exists), and a restaurant that changes its entire regional focus every season. If you have been eating the same korma for five years, Melbourne is where that ends.