Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page listed nine “Indian” venues in Prahran, such as Old Lane and Otto’s, with seat counts, prices and a claim that every place had been visited in person. It was generated, not reported: the “Indian” dishes it named were cafe food like charcuterie boards and sourdough, and every address carried the postcode 3088, which is not Prahran’s (Prahran is 3181). The page has been rewritten. Every kitchen below was checked against its own website or ordering page and a second, independent listing, and every price was copied from the venue’s own menu on 1 October 2026.
Indian food in Prahran is a short list, and an honest guide starts by saying so. The Prahran kitchen whose full menu we could read online is Shiva Indian Cuisine on Malvern Road, which says it was established more than 36 years ago; the other three picks sit just over the suburb line, on Chapel Street in Windsor and on Toorak Road in South Yarra. This guide covers four kitchens whose menus and prices you can read online, explains each dish in a line for anyone reading the board for the first time, and ends every entry with one dish to start on.
Community context: at the 2021 Census, 175 Prahran residents, or 1.4 per cent, were born in India, against 4.0 per cent across Victoria. Greek was the most common language other than English used at home in Prahran (4.9 per cent). So Prahran’s Indian food is a handful of restaurants rather than a precinct built by a large local community, and the menus below read that way: the classics, a few regional dishes, and plenty of takeaway.
A one-line primer before you order. Butter chicken (murgh makhani) is tandoor-cooked chicken finished in a mild tomato, butter and cream sauce. Dal makhani is black lentils and kidney beans cooked slowly with butter and cream. Chaat is the family of salty, sweet and sour street snacks, built on crisp fried pastry, yoghurt and chutneys. Biryani is rice layered and cooked with spiced meat or vegetables. Menus move, so give them a squiz before you head out.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Start with | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian takeaway in Prahran itself | Shiva Indian Cuisine, Malvern Rd | Chicken Makhanwala (butter chicken) | $17.50 |
| The cheapest lunch on this list | The Yarra Indian, Toorak Rd | Lunch Deal 1 (curry and rice) | from $10.00 |
| A late weekend dinner on Chapel Street | 3 Brothers on Chapel, Windsor | Daal Makhani | $20.90 |
| A modern sit-down dinner | D Hall of Flames, Toorak Rd | Fuchka pani puri (5 pieces) | $16.90 |
Shiva Indian Cuisine — 530 Malvern Rd, Prahran VIC 3181
The Prahran kitchen on this list, on Malvern Road. Its own site says it was “established over 36 years ago”, lists pickup and delivery within a 9 km radius, and opens 12pm to 9:30pm on weekdays and 4:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday, closed Sunday. Prices on its ordering menu are plain: most curries are $16.50 for vegetables and $17.50 for meat, garlic naan is $5.50, and a biryani, cooked with nuts and fruit and served with raita, is $23.50.
On the menu: Chicken Makhanwala (Butter Chicken), $17.50, which the menu describes as tandoori chicken cooked in tomato, honey, butter and cream and topped with cashews. Chole bhatoore, $18.90, is Delhi-style chickpea curry with puffed fried bread. Papdi chaat, $14.90, piles crisp wafers under yoghurt, potato, chickpeas and tamarind and mint chutneys. For a weekday lunch, the lunch pack (rice with a choice of curry) is $14.90, and “Two of Us”, a meat curry, a vegetable curry, dal, raita, rice, two naan and two pappadams, is $69.90.
Start with: Chicken Makhanwala, $17.50.
The Yarra Indian Restaurant — 180 Toorak Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141
On Toorak Road in South Yarra, and the place to look if the brief is a cheap Indian lunch. Its own online menu opens with a run of lunch deals: Lunch Deal 1, any main course with rice (a 500 gram half-rice, half-curry serve), starts at $10.00, and Lunch Deal 3 adds a naan and a drink from $13.50. The menu notes that prices may vary with add-ons and sizes, and most dishes carry a “starts at” price.
On the menu: butter chicken starts at $20.00, chicken tikka masala at $21.00, and the goat list (goat curry, vindaloo, madras, korma and more) starts at $21.00 a dish. Goat curry here is diced goat in an onion and tomato sauce. A vegetable samosa is $3.50 each, and samosa chat, a samosa broken over chickpeas with tamarind and mint sauce, is $11.00.
Start with: Lunch Deal 1, from $10.00.
3 Brothers on Chapel — 50 Chapel St, Windsor VIC 3181
Over the line in Windsor, which shares Prahran’s 3181 postcode. The restaurant tells its own story on its site: three brothers opened it on Chapel Street in 2019, months before the pandemic, and added a second restaurant at the Queen Victoria Market in 2021. It opens for dinner from 5pm, until 11pm Sunday to Thursday and 1am on Friday and Saturday, so it suits a late weekend dinner.
On the menu: The Butter Chicken is $22.00 on its ordering page and the Punjabi Butter Chicken $24.90, Old Delhi Goat Curry $24.00, and Daal Makhani $20.90. Dahi puri (six pieces), $16.00, are small crisp puri shells filled and topped with yoghurt and chutneys, eaten in one bite. Garlic naan is $4.90, and the Meal For Two deal is $49.99.
Start with: Daal Makhani, $20.90.
D Hall of Flames — 308 Toorak Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141
The priciest menu of the four, on Toorak Road; its site gives its hours as 5pm to 10pm without naming the days, so check which nights before you go. The menu renames the classics with a wink (butter chicken appears as “Red Velvet”, black lentils as “Buttery Lentil”) and the prices sit a step above the others: Red Velvet (Butter Chicken) is $27.30, Chennai Prawns, in coconut milk with tempered mustard and sun-dried chillies, are $30.80, and a plain naan is $8.90.
On the menu: Fuchka pani puri (5 pieces), $16.90. Fuchka is the Bengali name for pani puri: hollow, crisp puffed shells filled with potato, chickpeas and onion, then topped up with a spiced, flavoured water and eaten whole, fast. Buttery Lentil (slow-cooked black lentils with butter and cream) is $26.80.
Start with: Fuchka pani puri, $16.90.
Quick answers
Where can I get Indian takeaway in Prahran?
Shiva Indian Cuisine, 530 Malvern Road, Prahran, takes pickup and delivery orders on its own website: it lists delivery within a 9 km radius and pickup from 15 minutes. It opens 12pm to 9:30pm Monday to Friday and 4:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday, and is closed on Sunday. Its lunch pack (rice with a choice of curry) is $14.90.
What Indian restaurants are in and around Prahran?
In Prahran, Shiva Indian Cuisine on Malvern Road is the kitchen whose full menu we could check online. Close by: 3 Brothers on Chapel at 50 Chapel Street, Windsor, and two Toorak Road restaurants in South Yarra, The Yarra Indian Restaurant (180 Toorak Road) and D Hall of Flames (308 Toorak Road). All four publish their menus and prices online.
Where can I get a cheap Indian lunch near Prahran?
The Yarra Indian Restaurant on Toorak Road, South Yarra, lists lunch deals that start at $10.00 for any main course with rice. In Prahran, Shiva’s lunch pack is $14.90. Prices copied from each venue’s own menu on 1 October 2026.
How much is butter chicken near Prahran?
On 1 October 2026: $17.50 at Shiva Indian Cuisine (Chicken Makhanwala), from $20.00 at The Yarra Indian Restaurant, $22.00 at 3 Brothers on Chapel (The Butter Chicken; its Punjabi Butter Chicken is $24.90) and $27.30 at D Hall of Flames (Red Velvet).
What is chole bhature?
A North Indian dish of chickpeas cooked in a spiced onion and tomato gravy (chole), served with bhature, large puffed breads that are deep-fried. Shiva Indian Cuisine in Prahran lists chole bhatoore at $18.90.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each restaurant’s own website and its own online menu or ordering page, and copied every item and price as printed. Shiva’s prices come from the menu pages of its own ordering site; 3 Brothers on Chapel’s from the menu data behind its NextOrder ordering page, which its website links as “Order Online”; The Yarra Indian Restaurant’s from the menu page on its own site; and D Hall of Flames’ from the menu page on its own site. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source: the Australian Good Food Guide or Everything Indian. The Census figures are from the ABS 2021 QuickStats for the suburb of Prahran. Online prices can differ from counter prices and deals come and go, so check before you order. Restaurants whose own website or menu we could not read on the day are left out rather than guessed at. 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
- Shiva Indian Cuisine: shiva.net.au and its ordering menu; address also at AGFG
- The Yarra Indian Restaurant: theyarraindian.com.au and its menu; address also at AGFG
- 3 Brothers on Chapel: 3brothersonchapel.com.au and its ordering page; address also at AGFG
- D Hall of Flames: dhallofflames.com.au and its menu; address also at Everything Indian
- Prahran birthplace and language figures: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Prahran
