Ten years of live fire in Bella Vista.
One founder. One dining room. One conviction — that kebabs, biryani and the coal-and-clay tandoor belong at the centre of Indian cuisine, not at the edge of the menu.
Most Indian restaurants in Sydney are curry-first: butter chicken and rogan josh at the centre, kebabs treated as starters. Kebabiya flipped the menu. The tandoor is the heart of the kitchen — a coal-and-clay oven that hits 480°C — and every meat we serve meets fire before it meets your plate.
That single decision is why 2,000+ Uber Eats reviews average 4.2 stars and our Google rating sits at 4.4. It's why families from Castle Hill, Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Baulkham Hills drive past a dozen curry houses to eat with us. And it's why we've been in the same dining room at Sky City for over a decade.
Coal and clay. Not gas.
A real tandoor is a clay oven fired with charcoal, held at 480°C by a chef who's spent a decade learning to read it by sound and smell. There are no timers. There is smoke and instinct, and there is the difference between kebabs that taste of fire and kebabs that taste of a marinade.
Our tandoor has been lit every service since 2014.
Sanjeev Sharma. Three decades in Indian kitchens.
Kebabiya's founder Sanjeev Sharma trained through India's five-star hotel kitchens, cooked across the Gulf and Europe, and landed in Sydney with one aim — build the Indian restaurant Sydney was missing. A live-fire dining room that treats kebabs and biryani with the respect the curry houses gave to butter chicken.
Ten years in, he's still on the floor most nights.
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Seven decisions we made — and never reversed.
Live fire, every service
Kebabs are cooked to order over coals — never batch-grilled, never held under a heat lamp. If it takes fifteen minutes longer, so be it.
Halal-sourced, since day one
Every meat, every cut, every service, from certified NSW halal suppliers. No exceptions since 2014.
Sealed-pot biryani
Basmati aged for a year, layered with marinated meat, sealed with dough and steamed for forty minutes. Opened at the table, never before.
Spices ground weekly
Whole spices delivered from India, dry-roasted and ground in-house every Monday. That's why the garam masala smells different here.
Phone-Free Dining
Hand your devices to our team at the start of the meal. Trade scrolling for conversation. Go home with a small gift. Tables that participate say the food tastes better.
Sharabiya — house brew
Our exclusive lager, brewed to balance spice, not compete with it. Only poured at Kebabiya. Joined by a creative cocktail list and BYO wine.
Community first
A decade of birthdays, engagements, funerals, Eids, Diwalis, cricket-club end-of-seasons. We know our regulars' kids by name — and we intend to keep it that way.
Never franchised the recipe
One kitchen, one founder, one standard. When we expand, the tandoor comes with us. The recipe doesn't get watered down.
A beer that rhymes with the food.
Sharabiya is our house-brew lager, designed with our brewer to balance the spice of the kebabs and biryani rather than fight it. Crisp, lightly floral, and only ever poured at Kebabiya. Alongside a creative cocktail list, a curated wine list and BYO welcome.
See the drinks listTen years of Bella Vista's birthdays, engagements and Eids.
We've plated more birthday cakes than we've counted. We've catered more cricket-club end-of-seasons than we can name. We've fed Diwali gatherings, Ramadan iftars, Christmas office parties, Mother's Day lunches and every kind of Tuesday night in between. Ten years of the same dining room, the same team, and a growing list of regulars whose kids' orders we know before they sit down.
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What Sydney asks about Kebabiya.
- What makes Kebabiya different from other Indian restaurants in Sydney?
- Kebabiya is built around the live-fire tandoor, not around curries. The menu leads with kebabs — coal-grilled to order — and biryani sealed with dough. Founder Sanjeev Sharma spent three decades in Indian kitchens across the world before opening Kebabiya in Bella Vista in 2014.
- How long has Kebabiya been open?
- Since 2014 — more than a decade in the same dining room at Sky City, Bella Vista. Same kitchen, same founder, same commitment to live-fire cooking.
- Is Kebabiya halal?
- Every meat dish is halal-sourced from certified suppliers, end-to-end since day one. Because Kebabiya is fully licensed and serves alcohol, the venue itself is not formally Halal-Certified, but no meat crosses the pass that isn't halal-sourced.
- What is Phone-Free Dining?
- Our signature ritual. Guests hand their phones to our team at the start of the meal, trade scrolling for conversation, and go home with a small token gift. It changes the meal — try it once.
- What is Sharabiya?
- Sharabiya is our exclusive house-brew lager, designed to balance spice rather than compete with it. Only poured at Kebabiya. Joined by a creative cocktail list and BYO wine.
- Do you source ingredients locally?
- Where possible, yes — halal-certified NSW meat suppliers, fresh produce from Sydney markets, aged basmati imported directly from India for our biryani. Spices are ground in-house weekly.
- Have you won any awards or received media coverage?
- Kebabiya's been featured across Sydney's dining press and holds a 4.4★ Google rating with 2,000+ Uber Eats reviews averaging 4.2★. See our press page for coverage.