The Raj Indian Restaurant

The Raj Indian Restaurant Overview

South Africa’s leading Indian Restaurant group recently opened it’s doors in Camps Bay. The Raj Indian Restaurant in Camps Bay embodies the elegance of the British colonial style peculiar to India, the wonderful tastes of North Indian cuisine, and blends into the light airy feel of the Camps Bay beachfront.

The masterminds behind The Raj – owner “Doc” Arun Jairath, and operations manager Kathy Feinberg, successfully pulled off a Cape Town miracle while opening their Camps Bay branch. It took 3 weeks from the decision to open in Cape Town until the opening night of the Camps Bay restaurant on sexy Victoria Road in the Promenade. Anyone from Cape Town will tell you, according to Cape Town’s standards, that is seriously fast.

The cuisine is mostly North Indian and the culinary styles featured are Bhoona, Tikka Masala, Vindaloo and Khorma. Southern styles – like the seafood cooking styles from Goa are also incorporated into the menu. The Raj uses an authentic Tandoor oven which heats to temperatures of 400-450 degrees to prepare their Naan bread, Chicken Tikka Masala and various other dishes too. The chefs can also be spotted whirling and twirling Roomali Roti with dexterity and skill through the glass wall at the corner of the restaurant.

Executive Chef Peter Francis from Kolkatta and is a fourth generation multi-culinary chef who came to South Africa to work in the first Raj and he has trained all the chefs at The Raj – even his son - and now heads up the entire team, from the Sun City branch. When I asked him for his secret to success – he laughed and told me that if “your feeling is right, your food will come out right”. He also said that he loves to share his knowledge with others. I had the opportunity of meeting him and Chef Ratina Swamy Vishwanathan, who hails from Chennai, as they trained the two Camps Bay chefs, Rajendra Singh (from Mumbai) and Bijendra Kanswal (from Delhi). Both Jajendra and Bijendra were very keen to have me sample some of their cooking.

I was presented a platter which had some delightful Punjabi Samoosas. They are pea and potato samoosas that have a pyramidal shape, that gets served with tamarind chutney. The platter also contained Tandoor grilled tikka chicken, which is first marinated in yoghurt and spices before being grilled on a skewer in the Tandoor oven. This is slightly different from the Malmali Chicken which are chicken breasts also grilled in the Tandoor, but first get marinated in yoghurt, cream and cashew nuts. The platter also contained Balti lamb samasoos.

This is Indian food at it’s best – and finally within the reach of the cuisine crazy Cape Town public. Don’t believe me. Go try for yourself. And it is in such a beautiful spot! Let the general manager, Anthony Sinden, whose experience includes Sun City and Dubai heads up a talented team.

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6 Visitor Reviews

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  Posted February 2010

  The Managment

  Michael Mabin from London

  The staff are great, Barman was fantastic. I only spoke with him for a few min, but he was great. He really showed me what Cape Town was all about. For the Manager "Anthony" he was the arrogant, and down right rude. I don't know if that is a Joburg thing, but I hope that it isn't. All in all great food, and great staff.

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  Posted February 2010

  watch your credit card at the Raj

  Lynn du Plessis from cape town

  We had roganjosh and korma.. ok ish. but you will go away hungry unless you want to pay for more dishes. Rice was extra. No sambals with the food either.The lamb dish was almost R100 and there were probably six mouthfuls in it! After the meal, the waiter took our credit card to the back when our attention was not focussed instead of bringing the machine to us. When we realised after a couple of minutes that my credit card had been taken, I found the waiter at the back of the restaurant with my card. The manager said it was their policy to bring the machine to the tables, and said he had " suspended " the waiter, Shawn, for not doing so! It all seemed very suspicious and we left there feeling that it was a bad experience in all ways!

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  Posted February 2010

  Experience

  Allen John from Cape Town

  I came to dine there twice last week, Monday and Friday. The food is great and the restaurant looks beautifull. The only problem I had was on the Friday, there was a arrogant manager on duty that made you feel unwanted, he glared at you while eating and was rude to his waiters. Except for him I do think this restaurant has potential.

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  Posted February 2010

  BAD EXPERIANCE

  Sue Patterson from Johannesburg

  I am a regular at the RAJ in Monte and I have been to the Sun City and Michael Angelo Branches, but my experiance at the Raj in Cams Bay was horrible. I asume he is the manager, had is sunglasses on the whole time inside the restaurant at lunch time, that doesn't leave a good impression, secondly he treated the staff like dogs in front of the customers. The food portions, also don't live up to the standard that I am ussed to at the other branches. I am really sad to say that I will never go back to the RAJ again, if that is the way that the people is behaving.

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  Posted February 2010

  Note for RAJ management

  Liz Von Badenburg from Hout Bay Cape Town

  Hi Just want to congratulate you with your new restaurtant. The hostes called 'Annalie"was very friendly and helpfull and she really is a gem and a huge asset for your business, but for the manager on the other hand, he is rude and arrogant. I have to agree with the listing above, the sunglasses doen't look good at all and he was a bit rude to the workers, I really dont know how they can work under that circumstances, maybe it is the way you do it in JHB, but it is defenetally not the way that we do it here in Cape Town. I am a travel agent and two of my friends has already advised me not to make bookings for my groups at your restaurant due to the bad impression your manager is giving. I must say that you really have to shape up a bit if you wanna last in Cape Town.

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  Posted December 2009

  The opening night

  mark ridley from cape town

  Great service and Excellent food. Best curry ever. Cannot believe that they opened in just 3 weeks...

  2/4 people found this helpful