Delhi Streets
Time Out's instruction on the pani puri is a technique note: "you've got about three seconds to get it in your mouth before it all comes apart."
Why go
Because someone reviewed it a decade after it opened and it held. Cjay Aksoy gave Delhi Streets four stars in August 2022 and wrote that it remains a well-loved spot that's weathered the storm
, under $40 a head (Time Out). Charan Singh runs it and takes the position that this is not a typical Indian restaurant, which in practice means snacking rather than curry-house service; his father Resham works the tandoor (Concrete Playground). The room is in The Archway off Katherine Place, Bollywood posters on the walls, the kitchen behind glass. Thali specials go up on a chalkboard and change by the day, with goat curry as the fixed point.
Order this / avoid
- Order: pani puri first, whole, fast. Samosa chaat, where the parcels sit on chole under yoghurt, mint and tamarind. Papri chaat. Whatever thali is chalked up. Pistachio kulfi at the end.
- Avoid: the paneer pizza and the chicken tikka burrito, which Time Out found "fall short of the more traditional dishes". Sunday, when it is shut. And do not plan a long dinner, because sittings run ninety minutes.
What locals & experts say
- Cjay Aksoy, Time Out, four stars, ten years in:
A decade on, Delhi Streets is still kicking, and it's evidently still as good as ever – all under $40 a head, too.
1 - The same review, on the samosa chaat: the parcels
sit on a traditional chole (chickpea curry) and are drizzled with a slightly sweet yogurt, freshened up with a mint chutney and lifted with tamarind.
1 - And the dissent, from the same critic: the room opened in Melbourne's fusion years and it shows, in
paneer pizzas and chicken tikka burritos that, regretfully, fall short of the more traditional dishes.
1 - Ellen Seah, Concrete Playground, on the intent and the family:
Owner Charan Singh likes to pride himself on not running a typical Indian restaurant. Expect a more snack-based, market style affair.
She also records that Resham Singh, his father, mans the tandoor.2 - No Melbourne chef in the 74-pick corpus names it.
Good to know
- Where: Katherine Place, in The Archway, between Spencer and King off Flinders Lane. The venue's own site says number 18; Time Out and this project's geocode say 22. Same laneway either way.
- Timing: lunch Monday to Friday 11.30am to 2.30pm, dinner Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm. Closed Sunday.
- Booking: worth booking, and expect a ninety-minute sitting.
- Sites: one. No siblings.
- Diet: the venue's own menu marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Nothing on the site addresses cross-contamination, so this is a gluten-free menu rather than a celiac-aware kitchen.
- Safety: Victoria publishes no venue hygiene rating. Safe Food Victoria's s.53D register of convictions, fifteen entries at its 21 July 2026 update, does not list this venue.5
Verdict
should-visit — You get about three seconds. That is Time Out's line on the pani puri here, and it is the right way in: the shell is filled with spiced mint water at the table and it starts failing immediately, so the whole thing goes in whole. Cjay Aksoy gave this four stars in 2022, a decade after it opened, and the sentence that matters is that it is still as good as ever and still under forty dollars a head. A re-review of an old room is worth more than any opening piece, because it is the only evidence that a kitchen held. Charan Singh runs it and his father Resham is on the tandoor. The chaat is the reason to come: samosas landed on chickpea chole under yoghurt, mint and tamarind, papri chaat the floor staff describe as zingy Indian nachos, and a chalkboard of thali specials that changes daily with goat curry as the constant. Skip the paneer pizza and the chicken tikka burrito, which Time Out says fall short of everything traditional beside them. The sittings run ninety minutes and it shuts on Sunday.