Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page listed twelve “Indian” venues in Carnegie that we could not match to any real business, at addresses we could not match either, with invented prices, seat counts and “insider tips”, and it said we had visited them. We could not stand behind any of it. The page has been rewritten from scratch. Every place below was checked against its own current website or ordering page and a second, independent listing on 1 October 2026.
The Indian food on Koornang Road did not arrive by accident; it arrived with people, and the Census shows how many. Two kitchens on the strip put their menus online: one cooks Bangalore, the other takes its cues from Bombay and Lucknow. Just over the line in Glen Huntly and Murrumbeena, which share Carnegie’s 3163 postcode, there is a chaat-heavy menu and a neighbourhood curry house, 18 years old by its own account, with a $12 lunch on Wednesdays to Fridays.
Community context: at the 2021 Census, 1,644 of Carnegie’s 17,909 residents (9.2 per cent) were born in India, the most common birthplace after Australia, and 8.7 per cent reported Indian ancestry. Hindi was the fifth most common language other than English used at home, at 2.0 per cent.
The precinct: the Carnegie Traders Association’s Koornang Road directory sorts the strip by cuisine, and Indian sits alongside French, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Thai, Uyghur and Vietnamese.
A quick primer for reading the boards below. South Indian cooking is built on rice and lentils: the dosa is a thin crepe of fermented rice and lentil batter, idli is a steamed rice cake, and vada is a savoury lentil doughnut, all served with chutney and sambar, a tangy lentil-and-vegetable stew. North Indian menus lean on wheat breads, the tandoor and rich gravies such as butter chicken. Chaat is street snacking: crisp, tangy, sweet and spicy in one bite. Menus move, so give them a squiz before you head out.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Start with | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Bangalore-style dosa on Koornang Road | Namma Bangalore Vibbes | MG Road Plain Dosa | $8.99 |
| Butter chicken on the strip | Good Old Mantra | Butter Chicken | $27.90 |
| Chaat by the plate | Swagath Grand Glen Huntly | Pani puri | $9.95 |
| A cheap lunch or takeaway | Tara’s Cafe and Indian Restaurant | Lunch time special | $12 |
Namma Bangalore Vibbes — 118 Koornang Rd, Carnegie VIC 3163
The restaurant’s own site calls it “a Bangalore-inspired South Indian restaurant in Melbourne”, and its menu names dishes after Bangalore neighbourhoods. On the menu: the MG Road Plain Dosa ($8.99) is the classic crisp crepe; the Malleswaram Neer Dosa ($8.99) is a soft, thin rice crepe from the Karnataka coast; and the Vijayanagar Set Dosa ($11.99) is thicker and fluffier, served as a set of two. Rajajinagar Idli is $7.99, the Nandi Vada (lentil fritters with chutney) is $13.99, and the Chikpet Masala Puri, which the menu calls “a signature Bangalore dish”, is $15.99. For something bigger, the Nati Style Chicken Donne Biryani ($27.99) is Bangalore-style biryani served in a leaf bowl. Its own location page lists the kitchen as closed on Tuesdays and open from 9am on Saturdays and Sundays.
Start with: the MG Road Plain Dosa, $8.99.
Good Old Mantra — 3/23 Koornang Rd, Carnegie VIC 3163
“Carnegie’s neighbourhood Indian eatery”, in its own words, taking “cues from the street stalls of Bombay and the slow kitchens of Lucknow”. Its online ordering menu lists the butter chicken, described as tandoori chicken in silken tomato and butter, at $27.90, with garlic naan at $9.90. On the menu: golgappa, the North Indian name for pani puri (crisp hollow puris you fill and eat in one go), is $13.90 as the Golgappa Rush, and samosa chaat, two samosas crushed with chickpeas, yoghurt and sev, is $15.50. Two weekly specials are worth knowing: the Desi Bento, a four-tier tiffin tin, is $27.90 (dine-in only, until 7:30pm), and on Tuesdays a curry bowl with papadam, rice and naan or roti is $26.50 for dine-in. On Thursdays the site advertises 20 per cent off the bill for locals in the 3163 postcode. Dinner runs from 5:30pm, Monday to Sunday.
Start with: the butter chicken, $27.90.
Swagath Grand Glen Huntly — 111 Grange Rd, Glen Huntly VIC 3163
The Glen Huntly branch of a multi-location chain whose own site describes it as a “Bright, compact outfit specializing in curries, dosa, biryani & other classic Indian dishes”. The first screen of its ordering page is soups and chaat, and those are the prices it shows. On the menu: pani puri is $9.95, the puris filled with spiced white-pea ragada and served with tangy mint water; samosa chaat (a crushed samosa under chutneys) is $8.95; dahi puri, the same crisp shells topped with yoghurt and chutneys, is $8.95; and pav bhaji, a buttery mashed-vegetable curry with soft toasted bread rolls, is $10.95. The dosa and biryani sections only load inside the ordering app, so their prices are not here. Its own site gives the hours as noon to 11pm every day.
Start with: pani puri, $9.95.
Tara’s Cafe and Indian Restaurant — 454 Neerim Rd, Murrumbeena VIC 3163
The answer to “Indian takeaway near Carnegie” on a budget. Its own site puts it opposite Murrumbeena Station and lists a $12 lunch time special, a lamb, chicken, beef or vegetable curry with saffron rice, served 11am to 2pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The $55 family pack for two to three people bundles samosa or pakora, lamb rogan josh, butter chicken, saffron rice, raita, two naan and pappadams. On its ordering page the butter chicken is $18 and garlic naan $3.50. Delivery is $5 within 2 km and $7 beyond, with a $40 minimum order, and dinner runs Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm. Glen Eira City Council named it Shop of the Year runner-up in its 2025 Five-Star Safe Food Awards.
Start with: the $12 lunch time special.
Also nearby
Tandoori Zaika, 1214 Glen Huntly Road, Glen Huntly, takes orders through its own website, which lists chicken tikka and lamb biryani among its chef’s specials. Its web prices are shown in a format we could not copy cleanly, so they are not repeated here.
Quick answers
Which Indian restaurants are in Carnegie itself?
Two on Koornang Road publish menus we could read online: Namma Bangalore Vibbes at 118 Koornang Road, a Bangalore-style South Indian kitchen, and Good Old Mantra at 3/23 Koornang Road, which cooks Bombay- and Lucknow-inspired curries, chaat and biryani.
Where can I get a dosa in Carnegie?
Namma Bangalore Vibbes lists the MG Road Plain Dosa at $8.99, the Malleswaram Neer Dosa at $8.99 and the Vijayanagar Set Dosa at $11.99. Good Old Mantra also has a dosa section on its ordering menu.
Is there cheap Indian takeaway near Carnegie?
Tara’s Cafe and Indian Restaurant, 454 Neerim Road, Murrumbeena, has a $12 lunch time special (curry with saffron rice, Wednesday to Friday, 11am to 2pm) and a $55 family pack for two to three people. It delivers for $5 within 2 km, with a $40 minimum order. For snacks, Swagath Grand Glen Huntly lists samosa chaat at $8.95.
Is Good Old Mantra connected to Good Old Mukka?
Good Old Mantra’s owner, Swati, writes on the restaurant’s website that she spent two years as a co-owner of the Carnegie restaurant Good Old Mukka before opening Good Old Mantra.
When is Namma Bangalore Vibbes open?
Its own website lists it as closed on Tuesdays, open 11:30am to 10pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and from 9am on Saturday and Sunday.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each venue’s own website, menu or online ordering page and copied every item and price exactly as printed. Namma Bangalore Vibbes’ prices come from the menu PDF linked from its own menu page; Good Old Mantra’s from its own site and its Square ordering store; Swagath Grand’s from the first screen of its ordering page, which is all that loads outside the app; Tara’s from its own site and the ordering page it links to. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source: the Australian Good Food Guide, EatClub, Everything Indian, Glen Eira City Council or the ordering platform. Population, birthplace, ancestry and language figures are from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Carnegie; the postcodes are from the Australian postcode list. Online prices can differ from counter prices, and specials come and go. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of dish, not the venue’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
- Namma Bangalore Vibbes: nammabangalorevibbes.com.au, its location and hours page and its menu PDF; address also at AGFG
- Good Old Mantra: goodoldmantra.com.au and its ordering store; address also at EatClub
- Swagath Grand Glen Huntly: branch page and ordering page; address also at Everything Indian
- Tara’s Cafe and Indian Restaurant: tarasindianrestaurant.com.au and its ordering page; award at Glen Eira City Council
- Tandoori Zaika: tandoorizaika.com.au and Everything Indian
- Koornang Road cuisines: Carnegie Traders Association directory
- Carnegie population, birthplace, ancestry and language: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats
