Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page was generated from map listings. It counted “31 restaurants”, stamped entries “verified March 2026”, repeated Google star ratings and review counts, listed one pizzeria twice under two spellings, and gave most entries a “what makes it great” description that nobody had checked. It has been rewritten from each restaurant’s own menu or ordering page, read on 1 October 2026.
The best restaurant in Belgrave depends on the question: a long dinner, a pub night, a curry, or a quick lunch between the train and the hills. This roundup sorts five restaurants by occasion, all on Burwood Highway except the pub up Monbulk Road. Each gets a price band and one menu highlight with its listed price, all copied from the restaurant’s own menu, the ordering page it links to or, for N&N Bánh Mì, its Uber Eats store.
Two of the five share a building: India Gate and Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen are both at 1644 Burwood Highway, in units 3 and 1. They cook quite different food, which is why both are here.
The quick picks
| Occasion | Restaurant | Menu highlight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A long dinner, booked | Cognoscenti Food & Wine | Twice-baked Emmental soufflé | $28 |
| Pub night or a group | Micawber Tavern | Chicken parma | $35 |
| Curry, dine-in or takeaway | India Gate | Chicken makkhani (butter chicken) | $17.00 |
| Kerala food, dogs welcome outside | Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen | Dosa or the sadya | Image menu; not quoted |
| A quick lunch | N&N Bánh Mì | Crispy pork bánh mì (Uber Eats price) | $17.50 |
By occasion: a long dinner
Cognoscenti Food & Wine — 1628A Burwood Hwy, Belgrave VIC 3160
The sit-down dinner of the five. Its own site lists Monday to Saturday from 5pm, and Sunday lunch from 11.30am to 2.30pm as well as dinner. Mains run from a twice-baked Emmental soufflé with Parmesan cream and walnut pesto ($28, allow 15 minutes) to slow-cooked beef cheek with celeriac soubise ($48), and a chargrilled 550g Pure Black wagyu flank steak to share is $118. The signature Basque cheesecake, the burnt-top style from San Sebastián, is $17.
The weekly specials, as listed: Monday is BYO with corkage at $20 a bottle, Tuesday is a pasta of the moment with confit garlic focaccia for $28, Thursday is a chef’s-cut steak with a glass of Bordeaux for $38, and Sunday lunch is a rotating roast with Yorkshire puddings for $38. The menu notes a 1.9% card fee.
Price band: mains $28 to $48, as listed.
Menu highlight: Basque cheesecake, $17.
If you only try one: the Sunday roast, $38.
By occasion: pub night or a group
Micawber Tavern — 65-71 Monbulk Road, Belgrave VIC 3160
The pub calls itself “a century-old establishment” and, in its own words, offers dining by the fireplace in winter or the beer garden in summer. The current dining menu, linked from its menu page, is built on pub classics: a chicken parma with napoli, shaved ham and triple cheese is $35, a plain chicken schnitzel $33, and the Irish parma, topped with black pudding and McDonnell’s curry sauce, $37.
Specials listed on its homepage: a $31 steak on Mondays, a $21 smash burger night from 5pm on Tuesdays, and a $44 weekend roast on Saturdays and Sundays. Listed hours start at 12pm Monday to Friday and 11am on weekends, running to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Price band: classics $33 to $37, as listed.
Menu highlight: the Irish parma, $37, for anyone who thinks a parma can’t be improved.
If you only try one: the chicken parma, $35. It’s a Melbourne pub, after all.
By occasion: a curry, in or out
India Gate — 3/1644 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave VIC 3160
The tandoor-and-curry house in unit 3. Its own site says it is fully licensed, so a curry can come with a beer, and that takeaway and delivery run through its online ordering. Prices on the ordering page its site links to: chicken makkhani, the dish most people know as butter chicken (tandoor-cooked chicken in a rich tomato sauce), is $17.00; chicken biryani is $14.00; garlic naan is $4.50. For a group eating at home, the takeaway-only family pack is $65.00: pakora, chicken tikka, butter chicken, lamb rogan josh, mixed vegetables, roti, naan, rice and raita.
Its own site lists 5pm to 9pm, Wednesday to Sunday, and it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan a curry night around that.
Price band: chicken makkhani $17.00 and chicken biryani $14.00, as listed.
Menu highlight: the family pack, $65.00, the simplest way to feed a table.
If you only try one: chicken makkhani with a garlic naan, $17.00 and $4.50.
Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen — 1/1644 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave VIC 3160
The South Indian one, in unit 1. Its own Belgrave page says it opened here in 2016 and cooks the food of Kerala, the coconut-and-spice coast of India’s south-west. The dishes it names as signatures: the dosa, a crisp crepe of fermented rice and lentils with sambar and chutneys; Kerala beef fry, slow-cooked beef fried dry with shallots, black pepper, curry leaves and coconut; and the sadya, a vegetarian feast of 13 dishes served on a banana leaf.
The page also lists the practical bits: dog friendly in the outdoor dining areas; vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free friendly; Belgrave Station a five-minute walk away; closed on Wednesdays. The menus are published as images, so no prices are quoted here.
Price band: not quoted; the menu is image-only online.
Menu highlight: Kerala beef fry, the dish the restaurant calls “A Babaji’s favourite”.
If you only try one: the sadya, if there are enough of you to take on 13 dishes.
By occasion: a quick lunch
N&N Bánh Mì — 1652 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave VIC 3160
A bánh mì and pho shop. The menu here is its Uber Eats store, as we found no website of its own. App listings change by the day, and app prices can differ from the counter. The crispy pork bánh mì, pork belly with crackling, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber and coriander in a crusty baguette, is $17.50. Tender beef pho is $23.75, rice paper rolls are $11.25 (minimum two), and a Vietnamese iced coffee is $8.75.
Price band: crispy pork bánh mì $17.50 and tender beef pho $23.75, as listed.
Menu highlight: tender beef pho, $23.75, for a colder day.
If you only try one: the crispy pork bánh mì, $17.50.
Quick answers
What are the best restaurants in Belgrave for dinner?
For a booked, sit-down dinner, Cognoscenti Food & Wine at 1628A Burwood Highway (mains $28 to $48). For a pub meal, Micawber Tavern on Monbulk Road (chicken parma $35). For curry, India Gate (butter chicken $17.00) or Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen for South Indian, both at 1644 Burwood Highway.
Is there an Indian restaurant in Belgrave?
Two, in the same building at 1644 Burwood Highway. India Gate (unit 3) lists chicken makkhani at $17.00 and a takeaway family pack at $65.00. Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen (unit 1) cooks Kerala food such as dosa, Kerala beef fry and the banana-leaf sadya, and is closed on Wednesdays.
Where is N&N Bánh Mì and what does it serve?
At 1652 Burwood Highway, Belgrave. Its Uber Eats menu lists a crispy pork bánh mì at $17.50, tender beef pho at $23.75, rice paper rolls at $11.25 and Vietnamese iced coffee at $8.75.
Where can I get a Sunday roast in Belgrave?
Cognoscenti Food & Wine lists a Sunday lunch rotating roast with Yorkshire puddings for $38. Micawber Tavern lists a $44 weekend roast on Saturdays and Sundays.
Where can I get a pub meal in Belgrave?
Micawber Tavern, 65-71 Monbulk Road. Its dining menu lists a chicken parma at $35, with weekly specials including a $31 Monday steak and a $21 Tuesday smash burger night from 5pm.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each restaurant’s own website and menu and copied every item and price as printed. Cognoscenti’s and Micawber’s prices come from the PDF menus linked on their own menu pages, plus the specials listed on their own sites; India Gate’s from the Restaurant On Go ordering page its homepage links to; N&N Bánh Mì’s from the Uber Eats store in its own name at 1652 Burwood Highway; we found no website of its own. Babaji’s publishes its menus as images, so we quote dishes from its own Belgrave page and no prices. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source: the Australian Good Food Guide, the Belgrave traders’ business directory, Google Maps or OpenStreetMap. No star ratings or review counts are used, and no published critic review is quoted.
Menus and specials change, online ordering prices can differ from counter prices, and public holiday surcharges may apply. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of dish, not the restaurant’s own food.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- Cognoscenti Food & Wine: cognoscentifoodandwine.com, its menus page and menu PDF; address also at AGFG
- Micawber Tavern: micawbertavern.com.au, its menu page and dining menu PDF; address also at OpenStreetMap
- India Gate: indiagateonline.com.au and its ordering page; address also at OpenStreetMap
- Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen: its Belgrave page; address also in the Belgrave Live business directory
- N&N Bánh Mì: Uber Eats menu, its Google Maps listing and Instagram
