Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page listed eleven Indian “picks” in Clayton South, with seat counts, price ranges and insider tips, that we could not find at any source. None of the names appears in OpenStreetMap in or around the suburb, their addresses sat on four street names that OpenStreetMap does not show there, and they carried postcode 3170, which belongs to Mulgrave and Waverley Gardens; Clayton South is 3169. The page has been rewritten from scratch. Every place below was checked against its own website or ordering page, and every price was copied from that menu on 1 October 2026.
The Indian food around Clayton South did not arrive by accident; it arrived with people, and the Census can tell you roughly how many. Clayton South sits 20 km south-east of the CBD in the City of Kingston, and its kitchens cook for a neighbourhood where India is the most common birthplace after Australia. Read the menus side by side and you get a rough map of the subcontinent: South Indian idli and dosa, Kathiyawadi cooking from Gujarat, Mumbai street snacks and Maharashtrian home food.
Community context: at the 2021 Census, 1,997 of Clayton South’s 13,381 residents, 14.9 per cent, were born in India. Indian was the second most common ancestry, at 12.3 per cent, and 3.9 per cent of residents spoke Punjabi at home.
The precinct: there are two places to look. Inside Clayton South, two kitchens on this list share one address, 23 Meriton Place, about half a kilometre south-east of the Clayton Road and Centre Road corner. Then there is Clayton Road, whose traders’ association pitches Clayton as “a premier food destination in Melbourne’s Inner Southeast, boasting more than 200 businesses”. Dosa Hut and Jay Bhavani on Clayton Road, and Chai ‘N’ Chilli on Carinish Road, sit north of Centre Road, in Clayton, so this is honestly an “in and around” list: three picks inside Clayton South’s boundary and three to the north of Centre Road.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Order this | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A South Indian tiffin inside Clayton South | Red Chutney | Mini tiffin | $20 |
| Gujarati and Kathiyawadi vegetarian cooking | Tulsi Kathiyawadi | Ringan bharthu | $20.00 |
| A sit-down dinner or a function room | Aangan Clayton | Check the menu when you book | Not published per branch |
| A masala dosa across Centre Road | Dosa Hut Clayton | Masala dosa | $17.99 |
| Mumbai street food, all vegetarian | Jay Bhavani Vadapav Clayton | Bombay vadapav | $7.99 |
| Maharashtrian home cooking | Chai ‘N’ Chilli | Misal pav | $18.00 |
Red Chutney — 23 Meriton Pl, Clayton South VIC 3169
A South Indian food truck, by its own website’s description, trading at 23 Meriton Place from 5 pm every evening, until 11 pm Sunday to Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday. The menu is built on rice-and-lentil batter: idli is $11, a plain dosa $14 and a masala dosa, folded around spiced potato, $18. The mini tiffin ($20) puts two idli, a dosa, pongal, a vada and kesari on one order, and the idli and Kumbakonam kadappa ($15) pairs idli with what the menu calls a “sambar-style dhal from Kumbakonam”, a temple town in Tamil Nadu.
On the menu: pongal, which the menu describes as a rice and lentil dish “tempered with ghee, cumin, and black pepper”: South India’s savoury breakfast porridge.
Tulsi Kathiyawadi — 23 Meriton Pl, Clayton South VIC 3169
The same address, a different region: Tulsi Kathiyawadi calls itself “a pure vegetarian Indian restaurant” serving “authentic Kathiyawadi and Indian vegetarian food”. Kathiyawad is the peninsula of western Gujarat, and its cooking leans on millet breads, garlic and chilli. Ringan bharthu, roasted eggplant mashed with onion, tomato and garlic, is $20.00; undhiyu, Gujarat’s slow-cooked medley of potato, yam, sweet potato, brinjal and beans with fenugreek dumplings, is $23.00; and a ghee bajari rotlo, the pearl-millet flatbread to eat with both, is $5.00. Its site lists dinner hours of 5 pm to 10:59 pm Monday to Thursday, and to 11:59 pm Friday to Sunday.
On the menu: sev tameta, a tangy tomato curry finished with crunchy sev, thin fried strands of chickpea-flour dough; the menu calls it “a classic Gujarati comfort dish”.
Aangan Clayton — 370 Clayton Rd, Clayton VIC 3168
Aangan uses a Clayton postal address, but OpenStreetMap places its building on the south side of Centre Road, inside Clayton South’s boundary. It is one branch of a Melbourne group whose site calls it “a fine dining Indian restaurant”, and the Clayton branch has “spacious function rooms perfect for large events and private parties”. The group’s site lists Clayton hours of 5 to 10:30 pm Monday to Friday and from midday on weekends. Its online ordering site is shared across the branches and does not show which prices apply at Clayton, so there are no prices here; ring +61 3 8526 8685 before you go.
Worth knowing: the group’s own site explains the name: Aangan means “patio”.
Dosa Hut Clayton — 346 Clayton Road, Clayton VIC 3168
The Clayton branch of a chain built on the dosa, a thin crepe of fermented rice and lentil batter cooked until crisp. The plain dosa is $9.99, and the masala dosa is $17.99 in the menu’s stuffing-dosa list. The 70mm plain, podi or ghee dosa is also $17.99, from a section of the menu that bills it as the “World’s longest plain dosa”. For a lighter feed, the sambar idly and vada (one steamed rice cake soaked in sambar, one lentil doughnut) is $9.99.
The North Indian side of the menu is just as long, with butter chicken at $18.99 and a chicken fry biryani at $20.99; the menu describes its dum biryanis as “classic Hyderabadi mughalai style”.
On the menu: sambar, the tangy lentil-and-vegetable broth that comes alongside dosa and idly, made to be spooned over or dunked into.
Jay Bhavani Vadapav Clayton — 401 Clayton Rd, Clayton VIC 3168
The name says it: the Clayton menu is built around the vada pav, and the page promises “a 100% vegetarian menu”. The Bombay vadapav is $7.99 and the butter vadapav $8.99, and the katka dabeli, which the menu flags as a “JAY BHAVANI SPECIAL”, is $10.99. Butter pav bhaji, a buttery mashed-vegetable curry served with soft toasted buns, is $15.99.
On the menu: vada pav, Mumbai’s street sandwich: a spiced potato fritter fried in chickpea batter, pressed into a soft bread roll with chutneys.
Chai ‘N’ Chilli — 125 Carinish Rd, Clayton VIC 3168
A vegetarian kitchen on Carinish Road that cooks the food of Maharashtra, the state that includes Mumbai; its ordering site promises “authentic vegetarian street food and desserts straight from Mumbai”. Misal pav, a spicy sprouts curry topped with farsan, is $18.00, the same price as the pav bhaji and as thalipeeth, a multigrain savoury pancake served with white butter, curd and coconut chutney. Sabudana wada, fried patties of tapioca pearls, potato and peanuts, is $14.00; the vada pav is $8.50; and a masala chai is $5.50. Check the day before you go: its own site gives two versions of the Clayton hours. Both start the week on Tuesday evening, but one says “Closed on Sunday & Public Holidays” while the other says Clayton is open on Sundays from 10 am to 3 pm. Ring 03 9811 6544 to be sure.
On the menu: puran poli ($6.00), a thin wheat flatbread stuffed with a sweet filling of lentils and jaggery.
The Indian food court listed on Meriton Place
People search for an “Indian food court” called Khau Gali in Clayton South. Two listing sites place it at 23 Meriton Place, Clayton South, FoodScout as “Indian Food Court | Khau Gali” and magicpin as “Khau gali”: the same address Red Chutney and Tulsi Kathiyawadi give on their own websites. We could not find a website or a menu for Khau Gali itself, so the two kitchens above are the part of that address we can vouch for.
There is a second cluster on Clayton Road. In 2022, OpenStreetMap contributors mapped a group of Indian food trucks marked “Permanently parked here” at 415-421 Clayton Road, just south of Centre Road, and Bangalore Cravings, a Bengaluru-style breakfast truck, names 421 Clayton Rd as its weekend spot on its own website. We could not find current menus for any of them, so give the block a squiz if you’re passing, but don’t make a special trip on the strength of a map.
Start with: the mini tiffin at Red Chutney ($20), which puts idli, dosa, vada and pongal on one order.
Quick answers
Is there an Indian food court in Clayton South?
The listing site FoodScout puts an “Indian Food Court | Khau Gali” at 23 Meriton Place, Clayton South. Two kitchens give that address on their own websites: Red Chutney, a South Indian food truck, and Tulsi Kathiyawadi, a vegetarian Gujarati kitchen. We could not find a menu for Khau Gali itself.
Which Indian restaurants are actually inside Clayton South?
Red Chutney and Tulsi Kathiyawadi, both at 23 Meriton Place, Clayton South. Aangan, at 370 Clayton Road, uses a Clayton address, but OpenStreetMap places it on the south side of Centre Road, inside Clayton South’s boundary. The other three picks on this page are north of Centre Road in Clayton.
Where can I get a dosa near Clayton South?
Red Chutney at 23 Meriton Place lists a plain dosa at $14 and a masala dosa at $18. Across Centre Road, Dosa Hut Clayton (346 Clayton Road) lists a plain dosa at $9.99 and a masala dosa at $17.99.
Which Indian places near Clayton South are fully vegetarian?
Tulsi Kathiyawadi calls itself a pure vegetarian restaurant, Jay Bhavani Vadapav Clayton (401 Clayton Road) describes its menu as 100% vegetarian, and Chai ‘N’ Chilli (125 Carinish Road) is a vegetarian Maharashtrian kitchen.
Is there an Indian food truck in Clayton South?
Red Chutney describes itself as a food truck and trades at 23 Meriton Place from 5 pm daily. OpenStreetMap also shows Indian food trucks, mapped in 2022, at 415-421 Clayton Road, but we could not find current menus for them.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each venue’s own website, menu page or online ordering page and copied every item and price exactly as printed. Red Chutney, Tulsi Kathiyawadi, Dosa Hut and Jay Bhavani publish priced menus on their own sites; Chai ‘N’ Chilli’s prices come from its own ordering site, with the Clayton store selected; and Aangan’s shared ordering site does not separate branch prices, so we quote none. Where Tulsi Kathiyawadi’s site shows two prices for one dish, we left the price out. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source: the Clayton Road Traders Association’s Hello Clayton directory, a delivery-platform listing or OpenStreetMap. Which side of the Clayton South boundary each address falls on comes from OpenStreetMap. Population, birthplace, ancestry and language figures are from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Clayton South; the distance from the CBD is from Wikipedia. Online prices can differ from counter prices, and food trucks move, so check before you travel. 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
- Red Chutney: home page and food menu; address also at DoorDash
- Tulsi Kathiyawadi: tulsikathiyawadi.com.au (menu and hours); address also at DoorDash
- Aangan Clayton: outlets page and home page; location also at OpenStreetMap
- Dosa Hut Clayton: branch page and menu; address also at Hello Clayton
- Jay Bhavani Vadapav Clayton: branch menu; address also at Hello Clayton
- Chai ‘N’ Chilli: chai-n-chilli.com and its ordering site; address also at Hello Clayton
- Meriton Place food court listings: FoodScout, magicpin
- Food trucks at 415-421 Clayton Road: OpenStreetMap, Bangalore Cravings
- Clayton Road precinct: Hello Clayton (Clayton Road Traders Association)
- Suburb boundary: OpenStreetMap Nominatim for Aangan and 23 Meriton Place
- Clayton South population, birthplace, ancestry and language: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats
- Clayton South location: Wikipedia
