Quality Indian, local and affordable. Been coming here for 20 years and found it as good as any…read moreother Indian place in Melbourne. Butter chicken is a highlight, but very hard to mess up everywhere. BYO available. Service is geriatric. I usually get takeaway and am very happy. Servings are a little small.

UPDATE @20161022 not as good anymore.. was 5/5 for me last time.. but think it's more like a 3 now!…read moreWhy? The chicken korma was not creamy. more like a watered down normal curry. the lamb biryani was bland. missing a lot of spices. Now gave to look for another curry house to get my hyderabadi biryani fix!!! ***** It seems that the food gods have blessed me this weekend... found my new favourite burger and now my new fav hyderabadi biryani!!!! Ventured here on recommendation from one of my guys who frequents the area for Indian groceries... apparently they all go there for the same thing.... groceries and BIRYANI!!! The place had 7 tables only and it was packed. Luckily a couple was leaving as we entered.. first observation ... we were the only foreigners in the joint.. good sign was getting my hopes up even higher... Second observation looked around and behold 5 of 7 tables were eating biryani! Hopes got even higher!! Looked through the extensive menu found what I needed and ordered the hyderabadi lamb biryani, chicken korma and a garlic naan. Noticed also a lot of orders going through requesting 65 this 65 that... not the quantity :) it's a type of deep fried entree. A lot of places have it but not all do it well. Anyhooooo on comes the biryani .. first glance I was praying please let the rice be dry and fluffy ... and the biryani gods were listening... smelt the rice and it had the spices I soooo missed from my previous fav curry joint... .. then came the first taste.... BAM!!! I was almost in tears... It was it that taste that was it! The lamb was soft and cooked through without a stench. The spice was HOT but not extreme! They supplied a side of gravy ... which I added a bit to it and another BAM!! I was like a fat kid who had just discovered something goood!! (btw despite all my eating I'm not fat) The dal curry gravy gave it a diff taste which I'd not had before... but it was goooood! oops reminiscing too much... until next time happy eating y'all!! Oh the garlic naan was fantastic! Not greasy and cane served hot. crusty bits on outside with soft centre.. perfect! Had some herbs on top as well. Could've had that by itself. The chicken korma... not as good as other places as it lacked cream... but still pretty good.

Wow!!! Just had the worst meal ever...I can't believe people how anyone in right mind can even give…read more1* for this food. We ordered take away Paneer Tikka Masala and Samosa chaat and was seriously terrible food. I really deserve the refund here. Was soggy paneer with no gravy and just piles of Capsicum and tomatoes. Naan was hard and Samosa was not even fresh and bad. U can't even give 1* because I can not get negative review. Don't deserve to keep this joint open in Malvern where there are so many good restaurants around, felt super disappointed and annoyed.

Beautiful place, great website for ordering and excellent food. If execution matters to people, you…read moreget an A+

Cute place, friendly staff, switched on to great service. I felt the abundance that you expect…read morewhile having a thaali. This place also has chaat and indo Chinese food, I'll visit again for chaat, this time I stuck to a thaali, there are 3 thaali options, I had the biggest of all they offer, Rajwadi thaali. I was over the moon. That familiar smell of the food and that out of the world fresh food taste. The restaurant lives up to its name! Truly gujju! :) Thanks for making our lunch so special.

I ordered the sichuan gobi Manchurian, which is fried cauliflower in a slightly spicy sauce. I…read moreordered rice to eat with it. I was expecting crispy florets but instead I had florets that were only half cooked. I ate bites of uncooked flour. The flavor was not as strong as I expected. The staff are nice but I think that the Indian food here isn't anything special.

Definitely at the 'classier' end of the suburban Indian restaurant experience, Avatar is a welcome…read moreaddition to the Balwyn dining options, with enough great little twists on the old Indian favourites to make it stand out from the pack. Service is super attentive - they obviously pride themselves on this and rightly so - and most importantly the food was excellent across the board. Will be back. BYO wine only - they're fully stocked otherwise.

We had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Avatar in Balwyn and our first visit far exceeded…read moreexpectations! While there are plenty of local Indian eats in the area, Avatar manages to offer a unique experience with it's attention to detail. The food was absolutely delicious and the friendly attentive service was a joy. Highly recommend the eggplant curry and the chilli baby corn dish. A wonderful evening.

With it's modern twist on traditional Indian cuisine The Tifin Room will not disappoint!…read moreAmazing Indian flavours and spices mixed with a classic lamb shank, who wouldn't be impressed? They have a great wine list that will cater to anyones palate and if you're not into wine there is a brilliant selection of craft beers which are all reasonably priced. I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to try something different.

BEST PAKISTANI and/or INDIAN in Melbourne!…read more Now that I have your attention, I'll explain. Sizzler Ji looks like an unassuming restaurant on Koornang Road, the epicurean capital of the SE suburbs in my opinion. I haven't seen such a highly congested row of restaurants over 500 meters anywhere in Melbourne. Upon walking in, the decor and table setting seems standard for such a restaurant; it's clean and polite but nothing intimate or overly-decorated with Eastern tapestries or religious icons. Just dark wood furniture with red table mats. Outdoor seating is available, but it's literally a plain concrete courtyard out the back of the restaurant, where you're greet by the back of the Woolworth's parking lot. I'm sure it will expand in time, but at this time of review there's a plastic table with seating for 4-6. I'm also pretty sure there's one family running the whole operation, from the little girl handing us menus to the mother and son quietly refilling our water glasses. The service is friendly, polite, and prompt without being overbearing. The food is delectable. They are a Pakistani family, but also serve classic Indian dishes as well. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu, but I'll list my favorite dishes below: Green Chili Chicken Chicken Karahi Lamb Vindaloo Sindhi Biriyani Butter Chicken (haven't tried any vegetarian dishes... yet!) Kashmiri Naan (naan made with sultanas and nuts... amazing for spicy food!) The sauces are all incredibly complex and flavourful. The chutney with the BBQ items is TO DIE FOR (and secret recipe), and at Sizzler Ji they don't skimp on the meat compared to the usual Indian joint. Also, the venue is BYOB, but they don't advertise it. If you bring in a bottle of wine, they provide glasses at no cost. I don't drink beer, but I find if you bring in 24 beers, it's pretty uncool. A little gem of a restaurant, and worth the train trip out from the city. It's literally 50m from the Carnegie station.

Agree with the only other Yelp review here, this place has the tastiest curries I've ever come…read moreacross. Succulent, cheap and full of flavour, the naan bread is to die for and the rice is fluffy and saffron hinted. The kids adored their Lahore fish and my wife had goat which she loved. Only issue I had was the staggered service as the kitchen must be small & we had to remind them that we'd ordered rice. Decor not 100% but hey it's cheap tasty and if you ask you'll get great stories of being a Pakistani refugee.

I've never been a huge fan of Indian food and have been put off from some horror stories of having…read morea funny belly for days. I've had to change my attitude, as now I can't say that due to Bala Da Dhaba being an exceptionally good restaurant. The food is truly amazing and I was surprised at how much I could eat. I don't know a lot about Indian cuisine but I was very impressed with the vegetarian dishes such as the Muttar Paneer and the Malai Kofta. The waiters are very friendly there where it is a great place to go with a few people to share some of the delectable dishes with a BYO beer or wine. My only criticism is that the setting is very formal and when I'm not in that mood I now get the food to go and head next door to the Lyrebird Lounge, where I can sit in the courtyard on a balmy night and listen to some live music. Either way, the food is where Bala is a winner and will most definitely satisfy the curry lovers but may turn a few, just like it did with me.

I'm a little sad that the old Bala Da Dhaba burned down. I had some good memories of that joint;…read moregood curry, good friends, awful Indian covers of old Eagles songs. But it's the same management and the same menu, so it's not like it's a total loss. And it's a good menu. Actually, it's a pretty average menu - standard Indian food, more or less. But it's done really well. Seriously, it's the best Indian I've had in Melbourne. Only complaint I can raise about them is that the in-house portions tend to be a bit smaller than the takeaway.

In the heart of Chinatown is the Daughter in Law restaurant. Brought and colorful and billed as…read more'the unauthorized Australian Chinese restaurant'. We had the great lamb chops as well as delicious garlic naan. You've got to try the Ball of Happiness - a hollow shell that you pour mint, yogurt and tamarind sauces into and eat it in one bite. Excellent!

As a Indian food lover I had to absolutely try some in Melbourne while I'm here. Went to Daughter…read morein law last night. Now not your typical Indian restaurant. This was kinda upbeat, trendy hipster a little bit. I did enjoy the music very much while there. Service was good. I would say it was a very solid 4 stars . More closure to 4.5 Just not the insane depth of flavors like I've had in many other places but good non the less. Had the lamb Rojan Josh. And we did the naan Bread and condiments sampler.