The 6 best Indian restaurants in Hobart

Mother India excels in bringing bold flavours to the table with its take on classic Indian dishes. Located in North Hobart on Elizabeth Street’s multicultural food strip, this Hobart staple offers an extensive menu with plenty of vegan options. If you’ve got a thing for biryani, you’ve come to the right place. Their flavour-packed long-grain rice is infused with saffron and served with raita. Feeling adventurous? Try Goa’s speciality lamb vindaloo (best served with a non-alc nimbu pani, the house-made lemonade) and see if you can handle the heat. Not wanting to leave the couch? Order in for the mother of all Indian feasts delivered straight to your doorstep. 

Maharaja is the OG of Hobart’s Indian dining scene, serving up everything from delicately spiced Lucknow-inspired dishes to robust curries from the south. Their 16-page menu is a tome to work through, but indecisive diners can always opt for their banquet (vegetarian and vegan options available). Maharaja’s hot, gooey cheese naan is comfort food personified and is best used to mop up every last drop of curry. Head chef Barinder’s signature Kashmiri fish curry is packed full of flavours thanks to the long marination time of the fresh fish. What Maharaja lacks in decor (it’s almost so bad it’s good, and that’s part of the charm), it makes up in consistency and atmosphere. BYO wine or get a glass of Ninth Island pinot, and take your artistic licence out by drawing on the paper table clothes. It’s encouraged. 

Named for the Divine Mother, the goddess of food and abundance, Annapurna has been blessing Hobartians and visitors alike for more than 25 years and is a mainstay of flavour and atmosphere seven nights a week. The thali plates are a smorgasbord, with the seafood option serving up coconut crumbed and fried tiger prawns, plus a moorish coconut and mango dip, a selection of three seafood curries, and the obligatory naan, rice, papadum and raita. The masala dosa is a classic South Indian dish of chickpea flour pancakes stuffed with curried potatoes. End with a kulfi – it’s like ice cream but not as you know it, and is available in mango, pistachio or coconut. 

Hidden away in a 100-year-old terrace in Battery Point, Magic Curries is an ode to north Indian and Punjabi-inspired fare. Everything here is made from scratch and you can dial the spice level up or down depending on how daring you feel. The mango chicken – mild, slightly sweet and creamy – is Magic Curries’ delicacy, and for good reason. The ginger lamb cutlets are marinated overnight in yoghurt and spices and cooked to perfection in the clay tandoor oven. A glass of crisp Frogmore Creek chardonnay is a great accompaniment to the restaurant’s wholesome selection of curries. 

Tiny on seating yet huge on flavour, Danphe serves up a fusion of flavours from the Himalayan mountain region. Start by digging your fork into a plate of samosa chaat – crushed samosas with swirls of tangy tamarind and mint sauce. Then, explore the Nepalese speciality of momos and wrap your laughing gear around these steamed dumplings moonlighting as flavour bombs. The jal pari (fish chilli) brings all the flavour with Danphe’s spicy barramundi curry. Danphe makes a solid case to visit this otherwise quiet strip of Collins Street after dark. 

There’s a reason Chillies in Sandy Bay is packed with large table bookings – it’s an absolute crowd-pleaser that creates enough ambience to also make it a solid choice for an intimate night out. The mixed tandoor platter for two is the perfect jumping-off point. It’s packed with moorish bites of chicken, lamb tikka and seekh kebab. A fresh green salad is a welcomed palette cleanser before diving into a mattar paneer – a classic combo of peas and India’s signature cheese. It’s hard to look past Chillies’ signature dish – the goat curry. Cooked on the bone and perfectly seasoned, this meat falls apart and melts in your mouth. On balmy evenings, take your mango lassi outside and prepare for an alfresco feast.