Italian Catering Melbourne
Handmade pasta, wood-fired flavours and generous antipasto — Italian catering built for weddings, corporate events and celebrations across Melbourne.
Melbourne Italian Catering
Handmade pasta, antipasto grazing tables and live pizza — Italian catering built around the way Italian meals actually run, with food arriving steadily across the evening rather than landing in one wave.
We cater Italian weddings, christenings, corporate functions and private parties across Melbourne, with live pizza stations available where the venue allows.
The vegetarian selection is genuinely substantial, and gluten-free guests get real choices rather than one token plate.
- Handmade pasta for seated service
- Live pizza station where the venue allows
- Antipasto grazing tables
- Substantial vegetarian selection
- Real gluten-free options
- Weddings, christenings and corporate
Sample Italian Catering Menu
A starting point, not a fixed list. Every menu is built around your guest list, your budget and the dietary needs in the room.
Antipasto
Antipasto board, Arancini, Bruschetta, Caprese, Grilled vegetables, Cured meats
Pasta & Risotto
Handmade pasta, Lasagne, Mushroom risotto, Pesto gnocchi, Napoletana, Gluten-free pasta
Mains
Chicken parmigiana, Porchetta, Eggplant parmigiana, Grilled fish, Osso buco, Roast vegetables
Stations & Sweets
Live pizza oven, Grazing table, Tiramisu, Cannoli, Panna cotta, Espresso cart
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.
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
Italian food is the default shared language of Melbourne events, and the community’s historic centres still shape where the work lands. Brunswick, Carlton, Coburg, Preston and Thomastown hold long-established Italian families, with strong presences in Keilor East, Sunshine and Werribee. Venues range from parish halls and Italian social club rooms to reception centres, wineries and backyards built for long tables. Seasonality is driven by Christmas Eve seafood dinners, confirmations and first communions in spring, and the summer run of weddings and anniversary lunches. Winter moves the volume indoors to baked dishes and seated formats.
Italian Catering — Your Questions Answered
Handmade pasta is available and we recommend it for seated events where it can be served promptly. For large buffets we use shapes and bakes that hold their texture through a longer service.
Yes, where the venue allows. A live pizza oven is one of our most-booked stations — it feeds a crowd steadily and gives guests something to gather around.
Antipasto boards, arancini, bruschetta, handmade pasta, lasagne, chicken parmigiana, porchetta, risotto, grilled vegetables, caprese and tiramisu.
Yes. Eggplant parmigiana, mushroom risotto, napoletana and pesto pastas, caprese, grilled vegetables, arancini and a full antipasto spread.
Yes, including the long, generous service style Italian weddings tend to run. We plan the courses so food arrives steadily across the evening rather than all at once.
Yes, and they are one of our most popular formats. An antipasto grazing table on arrival sets the tone and keeps guests fed during photos.
Baked pastas, porchetta, roasted vegetables and risotto all hold well. Delicate fresh pasta is better suited to plated service, and we will tell you which is which.
Yes. Italian with Greek is a natural pairing for Mediterranean events, and Italian with Indian works for mixed-heritage weddings where one side wants familiar food.
Yes. Gluten-free pasta, risotto, grilled meats, salads and vegetable dishes mean gluten-free guests have real choices rather than one token plate.
Yes — antipasto platters, arancini, pasta trays and grazing boards are all popular for office lunches and client functions.
Tiramisu, cannoli, panna cotta, affogato and seasonal fruit. Espresso service is available.
Around 15 for a full menu. A live pizza station realistically needs a larger group to be worth it.
Yes, we deliver and set up Italian corporate catering across the CBD and surrounding business districts. Working lunches usually run as antipasto platters, a baked pasta, a protein and salads, plus individual desserts so nothing needs cutting. We handle loading dock and lift access, and we can set up and leave or stay to serve.
Baked pasta does; fresh pasta does not. For long grazing windows we recommend lasagne, cannelloni or melanzane alla parmigiana, which hold their texture in a warm tray. If you want a saucy pasta we cook it short, bring the sauce separately and finish it in batches on site during service.
Yes. Gluten free pasta is cooked separately in its own water and plated with its own utensils, and risotto, porchetta, cacciatore, melanzane and the antipasto vegetables are naturally gluten free. Panna cotta covers dessert. We keep the gluten free portion on a separate tray with its own serving spoon to avoid crumb contact.
We can arrange a pizza station for outdoor sites with the space and clearance for an oven, but it is not our core offer and it needs to be discussed early. For most indoor venues we suggest focaccia, arancini and antipasto for the grazing part of the event and keep the hot kitchen focused on pasta and mains.
Family Italian events usually want a long antipasto spread, two pasta dishes, a roast and a sweets table. Porchetta and lasagne are the reliable centre. We scale the antipasto higher than standard because guests graze for a long time after church before the main food goes out, and sweets tables are expected to be generous.
Both. The standard list travels best for large events, but if your family cooks a particular regional way we will work from that — southern-style slow ragu, Sicilian caponata, northern risotto and polenta. Bring us the dish you grew up with and we will tell you honestly whether it scales to your guest count.
Yes, where the venue allows it. We need outdoor or well-ventilated space, vehicle access, and clearance from buildings and overhead structures. Guest count is the real constraint since an oven has a fixed hourly output. For larger events we pair the oven with antipasto and tray-based dishes so guests are eating while pizzas come through in rotation.
We cook gluten free portions separately rather than adapting at the last minute. Gluten free pasta is boiled in fresh water, baked dishes use a separate tray, and anything crumbed or fried stays out of the shared oil. Risotto, polenta, grilled meats, porchetta and most antipasto items are naturally gluten free, so there is plenty to work with.
Yes. Pork sits in a lot of traditional Italian catering through prosciutto, pancetta, salami, porchetta and sausage, so we rebuild rather than substitute badly. Chicken, beef, lamb and seafood all have proper Italian treatments. We can also source halal meat where required and keep it on separate equipment through preparation and service.
Yes, for Christmas Eve gatherings. It takes planning because seafood quality drives the whole menu and December supply is tight. We confirm the dish list weeks ahead, source to the date, and build a service order that puts the lighter items first. Not every family wants seven courses, so we scale it to the table size and timing.
Yes, and it works well because Italian food suits shared service. Antipasto to the table, then a pasta course, then carved meat is a format that keeps a room fed without a hundred individual plates landing at once. We avoid risotto and delicate fresh pasta at high counts and use dishes that hold their texture through a staged service.
Baked dishes and cold platters. Lasagne, baked ziti, roast vegetable trays, antipasto, focaccia and tiramisu all travel well and need no on-site finishing. We avoid fried items and fresh pasta for drop-off because neither survives the trip. Reheat instructions come with every tray, and we portion so a team can serve itself without carving or assembly.
Italian Catering For Melbourne Corporate And Family Events
We cater Italian menus for corporate lunches, engagement parties, christenings, milestone birthdays and weddings across Melbourne. Antipasto boards, pasta cooked properly, porchetta, arancini fried on site. Much of our Italian work is office catering in the CBD and business parks around Port Melbourne and Tullamarine, plus family events through the northern suburbs. We cook at South Kingsville, deliver, set up and staff, or run the whole thing from one of our own venues.
Italian catering gets ordered for two different reasons. Sometimes it is an Italian-Australian family who will judge the ragu honestly. Sometimes it is a workplace that wants food everyone in the room will eat without needing to be explained. We cook differently for each. The family event goes regional and slower. The corporate lunch gets built around service speed, clean handling and food that survives a thirty minute delay when the meeting runs over.
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 QuoteHow We Approach Italian Catering Differently
Pasta finished on site
Pasta sitting in a chafing dish turns to paste. We cook it short, hold the sauce separately, and combine and finish in batches on site with a splash of cooking water. Baked pasta — lasagne, cannelloni, melanzane — is the better choice for long service windows and we will say so.
Fried items made on the spot
Arancini and crocchette are good for about fifteen minutes. We fry them on site in rotation so the second tray lands while the first is still moving. If frying is not possible at your venue we steer you to antipasto and baked dishes instead of serving soggy ones.
Corporate service that runs clean
Office catering needs food that works standing up with a plate in one hand. We lean on sandwiches on good bread, roasted vegetable platters, individual tiramisu cups and sliced porchetta rather than anything that needs cutting. Everything is labelled for allergens and vegetarian guests without anyone having to ask.
Sample Italian Menu For Functions And Office Catering
An example Italian spread for a function or working lunch, adjusted for whether your event is seated, grazing or a tight corporate window.
Antipasto
Cured meat and cheese boards with grissini, Arancini with mozzarella centre, Marinated olives, artichokes and sundried tomato, Bruschetta with tomato and basil, Grilled zucchini and capsicum with olive oil
Pasta And Risotto
Lasagne al forno, Rigatoni with slow-cooked beef ragu, Penne arrabbiata, Cannelloni with ricotta and spinach, Mushroom risotto
Mains
Porchetta with crackling, sliced to order, Chicken cacciatore, Saltimbocca with sage, Melanzane alla parmigiana, Whole baked snapper with lemon and herbs
Sides And Dolci
Rocket, pear and parmesan salad, Rosemary roasted potatoes, Tiramisu in individual cups, Cannoli filled before service, Panna cotta with berry compote
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.
Why Italian Food Punishes Bad Timing
Italian menus are unforgiving over a long service. Pasta keeps absorbing sauce and softening in a warm pan, so by the time a late guest reaches the buffet the rigatoni has gone from al dente to mush. We manage it three ways. Short-cooked pasta held under-done and finished in batches. Baked dishes for events where guests arrive over an hour or more. And honest advice at the quoting stage — if your event has a two hour grazing window, lasagne and melanzane will hold their shape and a fresh linguine will not.
Fried and filled items have their own clock. Cannoli shells go soft within the hour once filled, so we pipe them on site. Arancini lose their crust fast and are fried in rolling batches. Porchetta is the opposite problem — the crackling has to be rendered hard in our kitchen and then kept dry, which means it travels uncovered and gets sliced at a carving station rather than sitting in a lidded tray. Corporate venues in the CBD add a loading dock and lift booking to all of this, so we build fifteen to twenty minutes of building access into the delivery plan.
Italian Catering Dishes That Hold And Those That Do Not
Not every Italian dish survives a transport run and a holding period. This is the honest breakdown we work from when building menus.
| Dish | Holds well? | How we handle it | Dietary notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lasagne al forno | Yes | Baked in trays, transported hot, rested so portions cut clean instead of sliding apart | Contains gluten, dairy, egg. Vegetarian version with roast vegetable and ricotta available |
| Risotto | No | Cooked on site to the final stage only, or swapped for a baked rice dish for large counts | Gluten free. Vegan with vegetable stock and no butter or parmesan finish |
| Arancini | Short window | Fried in staged batches across the service, racked uncovered so the crumb stays crisp | Contains gluten and dairy. Vegan filling available on request |
| Porchetta | Yes | Rested whole, carved in waves at a staffed point so the crackling is cut to order | Gluten free. Not suitable for halal, kosher or pork-avoiding guests |
| Fresh pasta with sauce | No | Pasta cooked short and finished with sauce on site in batches, never pre-mixed and held | Gluten free pasta prepared separately. Many sauces are vegan |
| Antipasto and grilled vegetables | Yes | Platters assembled on site so nothing weeps into the next item during transport | Largely vegan and gluten free. Cured meats and cheeses labelled separately |
Italian Catering Mistakes That Show On The Plate
Saucing pasta in the kitchen
Pasta tossed with sauce and then held for an hour keeps absorbing liquid. It arrives soft, the sauce has gone dry, and the dish tastes nothing like it should. We cook pasta short, transport it separately, and combine with sauce in batches on site as the service line moves. It takes more staff and it is worth it.
Treating arancini as a make-ahead
Arancini is a rice ball in breadcrumb. Fry it early and the steam inside softens the crust from the inside out. We fry across the service window in batches, rack them uncovered rather than lidding them, and send them out hot. Covered trays of arancini are soggy arancini within fifteen minutes.
Cutting lasagne before it rests
Lasagne straight from the oven will not hold a square. It slumps, the layers separate, and portion control goes out the window. We rest trays before cutting so the bechamel sets enough to grip. For a buffet it also means guests can lift a portion cleanly instead of scooping a pile onto the plate.
Underestimating pizza oven logistics
A wood-fired pizza setup needs clearance, ventilation, access for the trailer and often venue permission in writing. It also needs a sensible guest count, because one oven has a fixed output per hour. We confirm the site and work out whether the oven can realistically feed the room, or whether a tray-based menu is the better call.
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