Gaylord Indian Restaurant

With an enviable location on Tattersalls Lane, just yards from Central Station between Lonsdale Street and Little Bourke Street, Gaylord Indian restaurant has been doling out top-notch Indian food to the curry-crazed public of Melbourne since 1985. Chef Musharraf has been in the business for 40 years: he has the parathas down to pat, the chapattis coming out a charm and the naans: well they’re second to none. And that’s just the bread...

Indian food is pretty ubiquitous in Melbourne, and Gaylord Indian on Tattersalls Lane in the city centre comes right towards the top of the league among the Victorian curry cognoscenti. Their chef has 40 years in the business, and they’ve been trading from their current location – between Lonsdale Street and Little Bourke Street – since 1985, a level of longevity rarely seen in the ultra-competitive world of city centre restaurants. Step inside though, and it isn’t hard to see why they keep packing them in after all these years.

The strength of a good Indian restaurant is, of course, in the curries, and at Gaylord Indian, they’ve got them sussed. From hearty North Indian classics like rogan josh to spicy southern dishes like vindaloo, their menu is a culinary tour of the subcontinent. On Tattersall Lane, the tandoor oven never stops producing top-notch meat and seafood dishes, as well as the essential array of bread with which to scoop them up and dispatch them. Melbourne city centre is an unforgiving place to be a restaurateur, but with food like this, we don’t think Chef Musharraf will be too concerned just yet. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to get yourself a table at Gaylord Indian: unless you book in advance, of course.