Looking for the spice of life but don’t want to eat the dice of animal life? Here are Melbourne’s best Indian restaurants that also have vegan options! So grab your friends, family or simply your coat if riding solo and enjoy some exotic cuisine without harming your fury friends.
Babu Ji
4-6 Grey St, St Kilda VIC 3182
Like eating out but also love the feeling of eating at home? Well, Babu Ji has the perfect remedy for your home-body soul at their family-orientated Indian Restaurant in the heart of St Kilda!
Babu Ji, a phrase used as a sign of respect to your elders, emanates love which is exactly what the restaurant has re-created in their love of food and hospitality.
Established in 2014, Babu Ji brings together quintessential Indian flavours as well as the unexpected with their union of both traditional and Indian street-style food for all types of flavour-filled diets. Draw in traditional Indian cuisine and a modern interior and a fridge stock-filled with all your favourite drinks and you’ve got the perfect night with friends and family!
Babu Ji have also recently introduced all-you-can-eat vegan curry nights every Tuesday for $25 – how can you go wrong?
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Cafe Southall
124 Carlisle St, St Kilda VIC 3182
Enjoy a dining experience through history and culture at St Kilda’s Café Southall.
Bringing to St Kilda the marriage of Britain and India known as London’s Southall district, this little dining room is the perfect spot for a warm burst of flavour.
With an interior set to impress all your aesthetic tastes, Café Southall owners, Ravnish and Jaspal Ghandi offer their guests a taste of their journey from Southall to Melbourne, sharing more than just food but memories and stories.
Café Southall is your next go-to for a low-key night with friends and family without sacrificing exciting and vibrant flavours.
Their vegan menu offers a range of curries including Dal Tadka, home-made yellow dal with cumin, garlic, ginger and tomatoes, Vegetarian Biriyani, long grain basmati rice slow cooked with curried vegetable, fried onions, cashew nuts and sultanas and Kadai Aloo Bengan or Gobi, a truly Punjabi spicy eggplant or cauliflower and potato curry as well as a selection of smaller entree meals!
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Delhi Streets
22 Katherine Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000
Immerse yourself in total Indian vibrancy at Delhi Streets right in Melbourne’s CBD!
This little gem not only provides an exquisite food sensation but a unique dining experience to quench all of your senses! With bursts of colour leaking from the plates to the walls, and vintage Indian film posters surrounding, Delhi Streets brings you a vibrant energy to excite and surprise you all at the same time.
Enjoy your favourite Indian dishes or try some of their street food with flair, whatever tickles your fancy, Delhi Streets doesn’t disappoint.
Delhi Streets vegan eats include Bhel Puri, a puff rice Indian salad and Masala Dosa, a crepe fusion as well as an abundance of meals which can be made vegan too!
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Curry Smuggler
223 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
If the name doesn’t entice you enough, the food will draw you in and have you coming back for more and more!
Offering an extensive exclusively vegan menu, Curry Smuggler has you covered when it comes to eating with a conscience!
Vegan meals include mutter mushroom, green peas and mushroom cooked in onion and medium curry sauce, dal tarka, lentils cooked overnight on a slow fire on the tandoori oven with herbs and spices but that’s just to name a few!
Enjoy a traditional Indian meal or something a little more exotic on your next night out in this contemporary city dining room close to Melbourne’s CBD with the best service you’ll come across!
[More Info + Gallery] | [Contact Venue]
By Eibhlis Moore