Catering Melbourne Businesses & Families Actually Trust
One kitchen, every occasion. Explore Tandoori Flames’ full range of Melbourne catering services — weddings, corporate, private parties and multicultural events — all cooked fresh in South Kingsville.
A Catering Company, Not A Restaurant With A Van
Tandoori Flames is a Melbourne event catering business. We cook from a dedicated production kitchen in South Kingsville and bring the food, the equipment and the people to wherever your event is happening — a function centre, a marquee, a community hall, an office boardroom or your own backyard.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. A kitchen built for catering is set up to send 300 covers out at the same temperature at the same minute. Our chefs cook to a run sheet, our event team packs down clean, and nobody waits forty minutes because a kitchen designed for twenty tables is trying to serve two hundred people at once.
We have been doing this across Melbourne since 2013 and have catered more than 850 events in that time — from fifteen-person family lunches to 500-guest weddings.
- Buffet, plated, grazing, canapé or live-station service
- Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and halal built in as standard
- Guest numbers from 15 to 500+
- Chefs, wait staff and equipment supplied
- Itemised quote within 24 hours
- Three of our own venues, or we cater at yours
What A Tandoori Flames Menu Looks Like
A starting point, not a fixed list. Every menu is built around your guest list, your budget and the dietary needs in the room.
Canapés & Starters
Vegetable samosa, Paneer tikka, Chicken 65, Rice paper rolls, Spiced lamb kofta, Mini pani puri
Mains
Butter chicken, Goat rogan josh, Beef rendang, Sri Lankan black pork curry, Dal makhani, Malai kofta
Rice, Breads & Sides
Hyderabadi biryani, Saffron pilaf, Garlic naan, Roti, Raita, Kachumber salad
Live Stations
Tandoor grill, Charcoal shawarma, Rice-paper-roll bar, Chaat station, Dosa station, Dessert table
Three Melbourne Venues Of Our Own — Or We Come To Yours
Tandoori Flames is a catering company first. We own and operate three event venues across Melbourne, and we also cater your event at any venue, marquee, hall, park or private home you choose.
Ultima Function Centre
Keilor East — eight event spaces and capacity to 800 guests. Catered in-house by our own team.
Visit site →Fleur Weddings & Events
Fawkner — a glamorous single-room reception for up to 400 guests. Catered in-house by our own team.
Visit site →Amora
Melbourne — our third event space, for clients who want a hotel-grade setting. Catered in-house by our own team.
From First Call To Pack-Down
Tell us the date, the guest count and the kind of event. We send an itemised quote within 24 hours — menu, service style, staffing, equipment and any delivery charge, all listed separately.
If it suits, we arrange a tasting. Once you are happy we lock in the menu, agree a run sheet with you or your venue coordinator, and confirm final numbers about a week before the event.
On the day our team arrives early, sets up, serves to the agreed schedule, then packs down and cleans the catering area before leaving.
Melbourne-Wide, From Our South Kingsville Kitchen
Our production kitchen is in South Kingsville and our vans go everywhere — the inner west, the CBD, the bayside suburbs, the north and the outer west. Any delivery charge is quoted up front, never added later.
South Kingsville · Williamstown · Newport · Yarraville · Altona North · Point Cook · Hoppers Crossing · Tarneit · West Footscray
Catering across Melbourne means planning around the city’s geography. Our kitchen sits in South Kingsville, so Williamstown, Yarraville, Newport, Altona North and Footscray are short runs. Point Cook, Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Tarneit add distance but are straightforward on the freeway outside peak. CBD and Docklands jobs are the fiddly ones: timed loading docks, goods lifts and clearway restrictions on the surrounding streets. Northern suburb work through Fawkner and Essendon runs along the Tullamarine and Western Ring corridors, which clog from mid-afternoon. We plan departure times around those windows, not around kitchen convenience.
Catering In Melbourne — Your Questions Answered
We are a catering company. Tandoori Flames is an event catering business operating from a dedicated production kitchen in South Kingsville, and our team travels to your venue. We also own and operate three Melbourne event venues — Ultima Function Centre, Fleur Weddings & Events and Amora — so you can book catering alone, or catering and a venue together.
All of greater Melbourne. Our kitchen is in South Kingsville, so the inner west, bayside and outer western suburbs are our home ground — Williamstown, Yarraville, Newport, Point Cook, Altona North, Hoppers Crossing and Tarneit. We regularly travel to the CBD, the north and the south-east. Any delivery charge is shown in your quote before you commit.
There is no hard minimum, though menus open up above about 15 guests. We have catered intimate family dinners of 15 and full-scale weddings of 500 or more. Tell us your number and we will tell you honestly whether it suits a drop-off, a buffet or full staffed service.
For weddings and events over 150 guests, two to three months is comfortable, and the November to March wedding season books earliest. For corporate lunches, birthdays and smaller functions we can often work inside a week. Call us with your date and we will tell you straight away whether it is realistic.
Yes. Depending on the service style you choose we supply chafing dishes, crockery, cutlery, glassware, serving staff and chefs. If you would rather keep costs down, drop-off catering is available where we deliver the food hot and ready and you handle service.
Sometimes. Many Melbourne venues allow external caterers, and some have exclusivity clauses. Send us the venue name and we will check their rules for you before you sign anything. If their contract blocks external catering, we may be able to offer you one of our own three venues instead.
Every menu includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes as standard rather than as a paid add-on, and halal-certified meat is available on request for any booking. Flag allergies when you enquire and we label them clearly for the kitchen and for your guests.
Drop-off and self-serve, buffet with or without staff, grazing and canapé service, formal plated service, and live stations such as a tandoor, a rice-paper-roll bar or a charcoal grill. Many clients mix two — canapés on arrival, then a buffet.
Four things, in roughly this order: guest numbers, menu selection, service style (drop-off is cheapest, full plated service with staff is dearest), and equipment or staffing hire. Travel distance from South Kingsville can add a delivery charge. Your quote itemises every one of these so nothing appears later.
Yes, and for weddings and large events we recommend it. Tastings are arranged by appointment. There may be a small tasting fee which is credited back against your booking if you go ahead.
Yes. Boardroom lunches, conferences, product launches, staff training days and end-of-year functions are a large part of what we do, and weekday delivery slots are generally easier to secure than weekend ones.
Tell us as early as you can. Small increases or decreases are usually fine up to about a week out. Larger changes closer to the date may affect pricing, and we will always confirm the new figure with you in writing before proceeding.
Compare three things: whether the caterer cooks your style of food properly, whether they have run your type and size of event, and what is actually included in the quote. Ask whether staff, equipment, crockery, setup and pack-down are in the price or added later. A cheap quote that excludes service staff is not a cheaper event.
Yes. Indian cooking is our base, and we also build multicultural menus for mixed guest lists. In practice that means Indo-Chinese dishes like Chicken Manchurian and Chilly Paneer, Indian street food, tandoor and charcoal grill items, rice-paper-roll bars and dessert tables sitting alongside the curries. Tell us who is coming and we will shape the spread around them.
Yes, we cater homes, back yards, parks and outdoor sites across Melbourne. We bring our own equipment and do not need your kitchen. For outdoor sites we need to know about vehicle access, flat ground for the service line, power if any, and whether there is shade or shelter. Some councils require a permit for catering in a public park.
Drop-off catering means we deliver hot food in trays with serving utensils and you serve yourselves. Full service means our crew is on site to set up, serve, top up platters and pack down. Drop-off suits casual gatherings and office lunches. Full service suits weddings, larger functions and anything with a timed run sheet.
That depends on guest numbers, service style and the venue. A buffet for a mid-size function needs fewer hands than plated service or multiple live stations. We work the crew number out when we quote, so it is costed in from the start rather than appearing as a surprise. Your quote lists how many staff are rostered and for how long.
Usually yes, but the venue decides. Many Melbourne function rooms allow external caterers with a current food safety registration, public liability certificate and a signed kitchen handover. Some charge a kitchen access fee instead. Ask the venue for its external caterer conditions in writing before you sign anything, because a late refusal is expensive.
Access for a loading vehicle, a defined prep area, power and water, and a bin point. Those four items shape the crew size and equipment list. If any are missing, the caterer brings generators, water containers and portable benches instead, which changes setup time. Send photos of the loading door and kitchen early rather than describing them.
Food that has been held at safe temperature and not placed on a service table can generally be packed for the host. Anything that has sat out for guests cannot be re-chilled and taken home safely. Decide before the event whether you want surplus packed, and bring containers or ask whether the caterer supplies them.
Rarely, once you count equipment hire, transport, gas, ice, serving ware, staff and the hours lost on the day. Self-catering also moves food safety responsibility onto you, and most venues want a registered food business named on the booking. It can work for very small gatherings where no hot holding is required.
Ask who will actually be on site on the day, by role. Many enquiries are handled by a salesperson you never see again. Confirm whether a supervisor runs the floor, how many chefs cook on site versus in the production kitchen, and the name of the person your MC or venue manager speaks to during service.
What a Melbourne catering company should actually do for you
Tandoori Flames is a catering company, not a venue with a menu bolted on. We cook from a production kitchen in South Kingsville and bring the food, the equipment and the crew to wherever your guests are. That might be a function centre in the CBD, a warehouse in Yarraville, a community hall in Hoppers Crossing or a back yard in Williamstown. The job is the same every time: hot food, on time, in the quantity you were quoted, served by people who know the run sheet.
Most people comparing caterers are really comparing three things — whether the food suits a mixed guest list, whether the service style fits the room, and whether the caterer has done your type of event before. We cater weddings, corporate functions, milestone birthdays, engagements, naming days and community events across Melbourne. Indian cooking is our base. We also build multicultural menus so a table of eighty people with eighty different habits all eat well.
Tandoori Flames MelbourneTalk To A Human
Call 0401 338 005 any day between 9am and 8pm, or send the form and we will come back within 24 hours.
Get An Itemised QuoteThree things to compare before you book a caterer
We cook, not reheat
Curries, breads and tandoor items are cooked for your event, not pulled from a freezer run. Gravies are made in batches on the day, breads go into the tandoor on site where the venue allows it, and chaat is assembled in front of guests rather than sitting in a tray.
One contact, not five
You deal with one person from first enquiry to pack-down. That person writes your menu, confirms guest numbers, checks the venue access and briefs the crew. Nothing gets lost between a sales team and a kitchen team, because it is the same conversation throughout.
Venues as well as catering
We own and operate Ultima Function Centre in Keilor East, Fleur Weddings & Events in Fawkner and Amora in Melbourne. If you still need a room, that is one conversation instead of two. If you already have a venue, we cater there as a travelling caterer.
A mixed menu that works for most Melbourne events
This is the shape of a standard shared menu — a spread of starters, vegetarian and meat mains, rice, breads and something sweet to finish.
Starters
Veg Pakoras, Onion Bhaji, Veggie Samosa, Chicken 65, Paneer Tikka
Mains
Butter Chicken, Lamb Rogan Josh, Paneer Butter Masala, Dal Makhani, Veg Korma
Rice and Breads
Saffron Rice, Chicken Biryani, Garlic Naan, Butter Naan, Tandoori Roti
Sides and Sweets
Raita, Green Salad, Onion Salad, Gulab Jamun, Mango Kulfi
A starting point, not a fixed list. Swap any dish at no extra charge — the menu is built around your guest list, your budget and the dietary needs in the room.
How a catering booking runs from enquiry to pack-down
First we ask what kind of event it is, the date, the suburb and a rough headcount. From that we draft a menu and a quote. Once you are happy, a deposit holds the date and we lock the menu in writing. Closer to the event we confirm final numbers, dietary notes and the venue details — loading access, power, bench space, whether there is a kitchen, how far the drop zone is from the room. Those details decide how many crew we roster and what equipment goes on the truck.
On the day our crew arrives ahead of guests, sets up the service line or stations, and runs food out on the timings in the run sheet. Hot food is held at temperature in chafers or cooked live at a station. Vegetarian and meat dishes are kept separate with their own serving utensils. At the end we clear the service area, pack our gear and take rubbish from our service with us. You get the room back the way the venue expects it, without a kitchen full of trays to deal with.
Seven Things That Move Your Catering Quote
Caterers who hide this make you guess. We would rather you walked into the conversation knowing which levers are yours to pull — most clients find at least one that saves real money without touching the food quality.
Per-head cost falls as numbers rise. The jump from 50 to 120 guests is the single biggest saving available to you, because fixed costs — staff, transport, equipment — spread further.
Drop-off is the cheapest. Buffet sits in the middle. Plated service is the most expensive because it needs roughly one waiter for every 20 guests.
Each additional main adds cost. Three well-chosen mains feed a room better than six thin ones, and most of our best-reviewed events run four.
Each station needs a dedicated chef for the service window. Budget for one or two, not five.
Goat, lamb and seafood sit above chicken. Vegetarian and vegan sit below it. A 60/40 veg-to-meat split is the usual lever when a budget is tight.
Saturdays from October to March, and the whole of November and December, book out first and price highest. A Friday or a Sunday is materially cheaper.
Metropolitan Melbourne is included. Anything beyond is quoted as a separate line so you can see it.
Send us your date and headcount and the itemised number comes back within 24 hours. Start here →
Which Type Of Caterer Suits Your Event
Melbourne caterers fall into a few distinct operating models, and the right one depends on guest numbers, site access and how much staffing you need.
| Caterer type | Works best at | Staffing involved | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop-off only | 20—80 guests, offices and home gatherings | None on site, food delivered in trays | No one to top up platters or clear away |
| Food truck or single-dish specialist | 60—250 guests, relaxed outdoor events | Two to four crew at one serving point | Queues build fast past 150 guests |
| Full-service event caterer | 80—800 guests, weddings and formal functions | Chefs, floor staff and a supervisor | Needs confirmed numbers earlier |
| Venue in-house kitchen | Whatever the room holds | Set by the venue contract | Menu locked to one kitchen’s range |
| Multi-cuisine caterer with own venues | Mixed-background guest lists of any size | Scales crew to the service style chosen | Confirm cuisines are cooked in-house, not subcontracted |
Five Things That Go Wrong When Choosing A Caterer
Comparing quotes line by line
One quote covers staff, crockery, linen and a cleaned kitchen. Another covers food in foil trays. Side by side they look similar. Ask each caterer what happens between delivery and the last plate being cleared, then compare on that. Scope differences explain almost every gap between two Melbourne catering quotes.
Booking before locking the site
Caterers build the crew and equipment list around the kitchen, power and access at your site. A park reserve and a function room need completely different setups. Confirm the location first, including loading access and whether there is three-phase power, then brief the caterer. Changing venue after the menu is signed usually resets the whole plan.
Ignoring who is actually eating
A guest list drawn from several communities will include vegetarian, halal, Jain, gluten-free and nut-free needs in the same room. Caterers who cook one cuisine handle this with a token side dish. Ask how many separate preparation streams run in the kitchen and how those plates reach the right guests.
Leaving pack-down unassigned
Rubbish, bar glassware, leftover food and borrowed equipment all have to leave the site, often inside a one-hour window. Many bookings never name who does it. Get it in writing: who bins what, who sweeps the kitchen, who returns hired items and what time the last vehicle leaves.
Get An Itemised Quote Within 24 Hours
Six details is all we need to start. No deposit, no obligation, and we will not add you to a mailing list.
