Babajis Kerala Kitchen Yarra Valley

13/10/2026

Being the strange restaurant that we ‘are’ and in such an unexpected spot …. It’s always nice to be recognised.

We put our heart and soul into what we do and our whole teams cups overflow when we’re breaking down cultural barriers and bringing our Indian and Aussie communities together.

Thank you Good Food & The Age for the recognition.

We’d also like to congratulate our other Yarra Valley hospo cousins for putting the Valley on the foodie map in The Age Good Food Guide this year;

The Alpine Hotel (Warburton), Emerald City (Healesville) & TarraWarra Estate
Estate.

We’d also like to congratulate our fellow sub-continent hospo cousins on their awards and recognition,
5 fellow Indian restaurants (including us) and 5 Sri Lankans.

Kolkata Cricket Club, Namma bangalore vibbes, RiceNGrills, Cha Adda

and for the Sri Lankans - ELEPHANT CORRIDOR, Many Little Bar & Dining , Tommy Gunns Barwon Heads, DUTCH RULES DISTILLING CO & The Prince of Yazh

Every single one of these restaurants recognised in The Good Food Guide is a boost for the whole Indian / Sri Lankan restaurant community.

Every single one helps our Aussie community understand that there is a – whole – world of sub-continent cuisine out there, and thankfully … it’s NOT all about butter chicken.

Us – We’ll just keep doing what we do.
Educating. Elevating. Empowering community … With a good dose of often perceived Indian chaos (😉) and delicious Kerala tucker!

X Babajis

(& yes, Good Food we often get busy at the weekend over summer. See last slide about our menus) x

12/10/2026

The thought of a pub in Warburton, a spot that can feel like the end of the world (we like it that way 😉), has just taken ‘PUB OF THE YEAR’ at the Good Food - Good Food Guide Awards - has just blown us away!

The Alpine Hotel - We are so so proud of you!

Their success is even sweeter when its comes with ALL the additional challenges of running a hospitality business in a remote spot like Warburton!

And believe us - there are plenty!

Plenty of issues which our city cousins do not have to contend with.

This is a pub that cares.
Often quietly.
Often behind the scenes.

A little story which says it all…
Not so long ago, we had major issues with our bank - which resulted in us losing access to ALL 17 of our bank accounts across both our restaurants.

🥱 We won’t bore you with the story, it’s in the hands of the Ombudsman now, other than to say - the stress of not able to pay our team of 52 staff (as we couldn’t access our $) was intense.

And who offered to help us - The Alpine Hotel.

Because THAT is the kind of people they are.

This award could not go to a more deserving team.

Congratulations Rach, Ant, Chef James and the whole Alpine team!

Just WOW!!!

Love your friends.

x

Babaji’s

(& thank you to The Age and The Good Food Guide - for shining the spotlight on regional businesses)

09/10/2026

What a secret little bit of paradise!

Where are we?
📍 Garden’s House
Royal Botanical Gardens
Melbourne!

We cater!
Chai carts 🌸 Coconut carts 🌸 Pani puri carts 🌸 Live dosa 🌸 Live appam 🌸 South Indian buffets 🌸Fusion Canapes!

babajiskitchen.com.au

06/10/2026

We can’t decide if this is a bit weird or totally amazing!

Billy’s 40,000 ft above the Indian Ocean watching the team welcome a tour bus of 100 today for lunch.

We’re gonna go with ‘amazing’ as we never look at the Babajis cameras!

Sigh, Billy’s got 35 hrs to kill as she missed her flight from Doha back to Melbs (not her fault this time) 😔 so ‘had’ to check in and see how they were going.

Super cool!

🥥

BABAJI’S THIS WEEK

⏰ We’re back to our normal hours. Closed on Tues & Weds.

🐟 Fish Cart runs on Sundays. 12pm till sold out. Bookings recommended.

01/10/2026

I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling with this today, emotions flowing, the impact of migrating across the other side of the world as a child - hitting me hard.

Family is hard sometimes. Messy. Confusing.

I haven’t seen my dad and stepmum for 15 years.

Posting today with so much gratitude to the team at , Warrington… who just for a moment, gave me the chance to show my dad inthe UK - my life in Australia - running Babajis with a Indian / Aussie team that I adore.

A little touch of Babajis right here in Cheshire.

How very very lucky I am to find a Kerala restaurant just 5 mins away from my dad’s place!

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Chef Benson (Mallasserry, Kerala), Albin (Chottanikkara, Kochi) & Anil (Kozhikode) for the precious memories you have given me.
(You blew him away, walking back to the car ’That was the best Indian meal I’ve ever had’.

My heart is full.

(I’ll be ‘home’ 🦘next week. Hugs needed)

Billy
Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen
Belgrave | Warburton | Mobile catering
Melbourne Australia

babajiskitchen.com.au

01/10/2026

29/09/2026

Look Amma, Look Achan!
We’re on the 📺!

Thanks to the team from Postcards & Shane Delia
for visiting us at Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen Warburton | South Indian Restaurant!
(and to our community who popped in last minute to be our ‘extras’)

Hope we did Warby and Kerala proud.

BABAJI’S WARBURTON THIS WEEK
⏰ Is open every day for the school holidays for lunch & dinner.

🐟 Fish Cart runs on Sundays, from 12-4pm or until sold out. Bookings this weekend strongly recommended.

27/09/2026

Did you catch us and our mates at Al Trancio on Ch9’s Postcards at the weekend?

👉 https://www.9now.com.au/postcards/season-2026/episode-30 (Forward to 15 mins in).

Thanks for coming to visit and promoting our beautiful town Shane Delia

babajiskitchen.com.au

BABAJI’s THIS WEEK
👋 We’re open 7 days this week for the school holidays.
🐟 Fish Cart on Sundays only.

27/09/2026

👋🏽 Hey there from Warby! (Greater Manchester, UK)
Billy here.
Thought I’d better stop in and show you all our sister town.
(I’m travelling at the moment - 🇦🇿Azerbaijan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Georgia and 🇬🇧 Manchester to see the fam).

It’s flatter around these parts. A lot flatter. A little too flat for me for I’m suspicious of anywhere flat! 😂

This little town is documented in the 1086 Domesday book as ‘Warburgtune’ and today just 286 folk live here.

That pub you see, the Saracen’s Head… was built in the 17th century.
Legend has it Highway Man (bushranger) Dick Turpin stored his weapons here…

Sadly, its only just recently closed.
(Since Covid - many English pubs are closing with the hospitality industry struggling just as it is in Australia).

Curiously - the Warburton Toll Bridge, is one of England’s last remaining toll bridges. Privately built in 1863 to charge folk to cross the River Mersey.

In 1863, it cost 12 pence (26c) to cross the bridge and that price stayed the same until 2024!!! when the government changed the law to allow a price increase to £1 ($2.20)!
That’s a 700% increase - yep, the locals are pi**ed!

If you’re driving through Warby today - you’re probably heading to National Trust property just a couple of kms away - Dunham Massey, a fancy estate built in 1616, that has housed many an Earl and soldiers convalescing during WW1.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/dunham-massey/history-of-dunham-massey

👋 BABAJI’S THIS WEEK
Just a little reminder - we’re open every day this week for school holidays for lunch & dinner.

Bookings appreciated. Walk ins welcomed.

🐟 Fish cart runs on Sunday!

babajiskitchen.com.au

25/09/2026

‘Humans’ - book for the right amount of humans!!!
It’s amazing how much it helps your hospo fam!

Thanks folks x

babajiskitchen.com.au

24/09/2026

Visiting us this long weekend? You need to know this!

Important things first! Yes, we’ll have toddy! (And beef fry & Malabar parotta & fish fry & all your Kerala favourites! 😋😋😋)

We ‘can’ be busy on public holidays. They are hard to plan for and hard to staff for us.

We’re located in small towns … which has its own challenges different to the city.
Please be kind.

But hey - you come from far & wide & we LOVE seeing you! 😊

Here’s what you need to know:

* We ‘may’ close to walk ins at 4-5.30pm to allow our staff to take breaks if we haven’t managed them.

* We ‘may’ stop take away - to help us give the best service to those dining with us that we can.

* We run a smaller menu on public holidays, which does not have dosa & sadya BUT it does have plenty for everyone ( vegetarians, gluten free, kids) and we WILL have all your Kerala favourites. You can find this on our website under ‘Menus’.

* We do have a 15% public holiday surcharge on Friday and our usual 10% surcharge on Sat & Sun. This contributes to - but does not fully cover - the cost of higher wages at these times. It’s not us being greedy - it’s us being able to look after our team.

BABAJI’S WARBURTON

🐕 We will close bookings for the b**r garden, the night before. Walk ins will still be welcome. So if you are bringing a pup - best to get organised and book your spot the day before.

🅿️ Parking can be tricky. You are welcome to use the RSL carpark just a couple of doors down (we have permission from the RSL). If parking on the local roads - please be mindful of locals & emergency services needing access. Parking inspectors will be out.

BABAJI’S BELGRAVE

🅿️ Parking options - Try Hayes Carpark, the carpark at the back of Woolworths or the big FREE carpark at the train station.

🌷 Tesselaar’s tulip festival is on and tickets are 30% off! Kids under 16 are FREE! It’s 15-20 mins from Babajis Belgrave.

Lets all have an awesome public holiday weekend!

X Babajis