Brits – divine Indian cuisine and glittery belly dancers were at the order of the day at the official opening of the new Raj Restaurant in the Sun City Hotel last Saturday evening.
The two owners, Dr Arun Jairath and Dhiren Mehta told Brits Pos that the Raj is part of an existing franchise that has a proven track record of excellent food and service. “The Raj will be open for both lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, with seating capacity of 120 people. In addition to the main restaurant there will be a take-away facility based in the Entertainment Centre. The Raj brings to Sun City resort the taste of traditional Indian flavours and aromas. The chefs are all authentic Indians so you know your getting the real thing. The unforgettable aroma of India is not just the heavy scent of jasmine and roses. It is also the fragrance of spices so important to Indian cooking – especially to preparing curry. Curries are a subtle and delicate blending of spices such as turmeric, cardamom, ginger, coriander, nutmeg and poppy seed. Like an artist’s palette of oil paints, the Indian chef has some twenty five spices with which to mix the recognised combinations or masalas.” Dhiren said.

MENU
The menu put forward to guests included: Starters: Onion Pokora, Aloo Bonda, Punjabi Samoosas, Lamb Sheek Kebab, Tandoori Prawns and Malai Tikka masala, Saag Paneer, Fish Curry, Vegetable Rice as well as Safron on Rice, Mixed Breads, Raita and salad. Dessert: Gulaab Jamun.
Guests found the food spicy, delicious and very traditional with the menu offering a large variety of North Indian cuisine including dishes such as Tikka Masala, Vindaloo, Khorma and Bhoona and can be fiery or not as desired. Each curry included a election of meats. A comprehensive vegetarian menu is also available

SPECIALITIES
House specialities range from seafood dishes to lamb dishes. A selection of breads, rice and biryanis are also available and help break the burn! Tandoori cooking is a North Indian speciality and famous the word over. Tandoori chicken, naan, tandoori roti, and tandoorie kebabs are also a hit.
On weekends the Raj offers customers dishes from the South of India. For the connoisseur this is a delightful change from North India dishes. South Indian cuisine is rice based. Rice is combined with lentils to make wonderful dosas, idlis, vadas and uttapams. These items are glorious and delicious besides being nourishing and easily digestible. They are combined with sambhar (dal), rasam (tamarind dal), dry and curried vegetable and pachadi (yogurt). There rice preparations are almost masterpieces like biryani from Hyderabad, lemon rice and rice seasoned with coconut, peanuts, tamarind, chillies, curry leaves, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. South Indian cuisine is also hotter and is a brilliant blend of flavours, colours, seasoning, nutritional balance, fragrance, taste and visual appeal. The timeless mystery and favour of Indian cuisine awaits guests at the Raj Restaurant. They have an enviable reputation for always being warm and inviting – a place of infinite variety and one that favours you with fascinating flavours everytime you visit.

The Raj Indian restaurant group has brought a taste of real Indian cuisine to Johannesburg diners for some 12 years, but the past 18 months have been characterised by rapid growth. Owner Arun Jairath and operations manager Kathy Feinberg talk Susan Reynard through the details.

Staff greet each other at the Raj with the traditional “Namaste.” This Sanskrit word means “ I bow to the divine in you.” It also echoes the commitment to producing authentic North Indian cuisine at this group of eight restaurants in and around Johannesburg.
Twelve years ago Dr. Arun Jairath , a practicing ophthalmologist, saw an opportunityto launch an authentic Indian restaurant. Back from his medical trainin in the UK, where he enjoyed some excellent Indian meals in restaurants, he found nothing similar to South Africa.
Enter the Raj in Kyalami , Johannesburg in 1994, with chefs, recipes, some ingredients and much of the décor imported from India. Soon after this in 1996 the Raj in Rivonia was launched. These two outlets rapidly became firm favourites with local and international diners looking for authentic North Indian cuisine in Johannesburg.
At this time Kathy Feinberg joined the company. Appointed operations manager in 2004, she is a stickler for standards and service and has developed various operations manuals and staff training programmes to ensure consistent quality across all the group’s restaurants.
After a period of working in partnership and linking up with marketing and management company during the early part of this millennium, Jairath bought back hull ownership of the Raj in 2003 and started expanding on the popular concept!
Raj restaurants have since opened in Sun City’s Main Hotel in 2004 and in the Michelangelo Towers Mall in Johannesburg at the end of last year. Fast food outlets were opened in Johannesburg International airport in 2004, Sun City’s Entertainment Centre and the Sandridge Mall in Midrand in 2005. Raj Thai in Fourways in a variation on the theme and incorporates popular flavours and dishes from Thailand. Jairath calls this recent rapid expansion “ a well controlled dream.” He does not want to go big for the sake of it, he says, despite the many approaches he has received from developers.
Feinberg agrees that it is time to consolidate and notes that since the change in management structure, decisions are made much faster.
North Indian cuisine remains the basis for the menu and has been expanded to include South Indian cuisine, seafood from Goa and Asian influenced dishes. Feinberg says a mixed party of diners will find everything they need on the menu.
Monique du Preez joined the group last year from Bayfront Blu in Cape Town to help improve the style of presentation and work on recipes for salads.
Each restaurant has its own ambience created by décor and lightning. The Raj Rivonia embodies the elegance of the old British colonial style in India. The Raj Kyalami is more colourful, in keeping with the vibrant heritage of the Indian city of Jaipur.
The new 130 seater Raj Michelangelo Towers Mall off Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg is the “jewel in the crown” and sports soft turmeric yellow, white and dark brown décor in a sophisticated setting. Large white and gold statues of holy cows are set against latticed screens. It features a smoking section, walk in temperature controlled wine cellar and a fully equipped bar! A window in front of the kitchen brings the visual appeal of flamboyant Indian cooking to guests as special breads are tossed in the air during preparation and giant skewers passed in and out of the tandoori ovens. It is equipped with two tandoori ovens and eight high pressure gas burners.
In addition to the seven restaurants, the group also offers outside catering, party platters, year-end functions and take- aways.
A common misconception about Indian cuisine is that it is all about the burn. While there are fiery dishes on offer, it is more about flavour and aroma achieved by blending spices, sometimes as many as 25.
The expansion has resulted in increased staff levels, with chefs still brought in from India to maintain authenticity of cuisine. They are accommodated in a housing complex and transported to and from the restaurants. Jairath works closely with various governmental departments in South Africa and in India to optimise this working opportunity fot the chefs.
All gravies are prepared at the central kitchen attached to the Kyalami restaurant. Administration and central ordering is also handled here. Almost all ingredients are purchased from Halaal suppliers but the restaurants cannot claim Halaal accreditation as they serve alcohol!
The winelists for three Raj restaurants and Raj Thai achieved gold status in the Diners International Winelist of the year Awards programme last year. Jairath and Feinberg are passionate about sourcing goos South Africa and international wines to accompany the cuisine.
The bar at Raj Michelangelo Towers Mall is fully stocked and bartenders have created some cocktails unique to the restaurant, such as the Raj Rose Petal and Apple Pie.

Brits – divine Indian cuisine and glittery belly dancers were at the order of the day at the official opening of the new Raj Restaurant in the Sun City Hotel last Saturday evening.
The two owners, Dr Arun Jairath and Dhiren Mehta told Brits Pos that the Raj is part of an existing franchise that has a proven track record of excellent food and service. “The Raj will be open for both lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, with seating capacity of 120 people. In addition to the main restaurant there will be a take-away facility based in the Entertainment Centre. The Raj brings to Sun City resort the taste of traditional Indian flavours and aromas. The chefs are all authentic Indians so you know your getting the real thing. The unforgettable aroma of India is not just the heavy scent of jasmine and roses. It is also the fragrance of spices so important to Indian cooking – especially to preparing curry. Curries are a subtle and delicate blending of spices such as turmeric, cardamom, ginger, coriander, nutmeg and poppy seed. Like an artist’s palette of oil paints, the Indian chef has some twenty five spices with which to mix the recognised combinations or masalas.” Dhiren said.

MENU
The menu put forward to guests included: Starters: Onion Pokora, Aloo Bonda, Punjabi Samoosas, Lamb Sheek Kebab, Tandoori Prawns and Malai Tikka masala, Saag Paneer, Fish Curry, Vegetable Rice as well as Safron on Rice, Mixed Breads, Raita and salad. Dessert: Gulaab Jamun.
Guests found the food spicy, delicious and very traditional with the menu offering a large variety of North Indian cuisine including dishes such as Tikka Masala, Vindaloo, Khorma and Bhoona and can be fiery or not as desired. Each curry included a election of meats. A comprehensive vegetarian menu is also available

SPECIALITIES
House specialities range from seafood dishes to lamb dishes. A selection of breads, rice and biryanis are also available and help break the burn! Tandoori cooking is a North Indian speciality and famous the word over. Tandoori chicken, naan, tandoori roti, and tandoorie kebabs are also a hit.
On weekends the Raj offers customers dishes from the South of India. For the connoisseur this is a delightful change from North India dishes. South Indian cuisine is rice based. Rice is combined with lentils to make wonderful dosas, idlis, vadas and uttapams. These items are glorious and delicious besides being nourishing and easily digestible. They are combined with sambhar (dal), rasam (tamarind dal), dry and curried vegetable and pachadi (yogurt). There rice preparations are almost masterpieces like biryani from Hyderabad, lemon rice and rice seasoned with coconut, peanuts, tamarind, chillies, curry leaves, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. South Indian cuisine is also hotter and is a brilliant blend of flavours, colours, seasoning, nutritional balance, fragrance, taste and visual appeal. The timeless mystery and favour of Indian cuisine awaits guests at the Raj Restaurant. They have an enviable reputation for always being warm and inviting – a place of infinite variety and one that favours you with fascinating flavours everytime you visit.

Perhaps it was good foresight when Dr Arun Jairath , an ophthalmologist, opened the first Raj restaurant in Kyalami in 1995, with the vision of providing the real deal when it came to North Indian cuisine.
Now, three Raj restaurants and three fast-food outlets around Johannesburg and Sun City later, comes the flagship offering at the swish Michelangelo Towers in Sandton.
Here, food is crafted using time-honoured Indian cooking methods, and the setting is unique to this branch with its subtle colours and opulent décor.
Arun, who still practises ophthalmology in between overseeing the restaurants and conjuring up more ideas to extend the Raj brand, is enjoying his new Sandton location, the heart of the business and tourist hub in Johannesburg. And if ever you needed proof that The Raj dishes are true-to-form, you only need to look around at the groups-locals and foreigners – of Indians who eat here, wit chef, many of who are fourth- and fifth- generation cooks, who have been handpicked from India, you’re bound to get the real thing! The spices also hail from India, where Arun travels about four times a year to source, buy and simply see.
The menu is long and you’ll be hard-pressed for choice from the large range of starters, accompaniments, bread, rice, seafood, lamb, chicken and vegetarian dishes. All the Northern Indian cooking styles – bhoona, tikka masala, vindaloo, jalfrezi, khorma and karai/balit – are expertly done and the handy menu brilliantly guides the uninitiated through the descriptions of the food and the techniques of Indian cuisine. Friendly waiters also lend a hand and inform you that all the dishes are available mild, medium and hot.
Its difficult (almost unfair) to pick out the menu’s specialities or favourites, but Arun does recommend the Punjabi samoosas (homemade samoosas filled with spiced potato an peas, served with tamarind chutney – the batter is heavenly) roganjosh 9tender pieces of lamb cooked in a brown onion paste with whole garam masala, chopped tomatoes and mixed spices with yogurt and garnished with fresh coriander). Crab masala (crab pieces in the shell, cooked on a creamy coconut and coriander gravy tempered with fenugreek, mustard and cumin), chicken korma (chicken pieces cooked in a creamy cashew nut and yogurt gravy) and the dal makhni (black lentils cooked in a slow fire with fresh herbs, sundried spices and fresh cream)
For desert there’s gulab jamun (milk dumplings served in a rose and cardamom-flavoured syrup), for which a trip to The Raj is worth it alone. There’s also kulfi (saffronscented ice cream), gajar halwa (traditional Indian carrot pudding with nutmeg, mace and cardamom) and four lassi varieties.
Food is not the only pride of place at the Raj – there’s an extensive winelist , which has already won a Diners Clud gold award, two Indian beers, Cobra and Kingfisher (The Raj will be the sole importer of the latter) and a dazzling choice of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails. These make use of the imported Monin fruit syrups that are used in the most sensational concoctions such as the signature Raj Rose Petal, lavender martini, white chocolate martini (with melted chocolate drizzled on the sides of the glass and a chocolate coated wafer) and the gingerbread man martini, which taste like a ginger pudding in liquid form!
Another restaurant feature is the glass window to one of the kitchens that allows you to observe some of the methods of Indian cooking. On my visit, a chef was flipping rotis, and we watched in awe as he effortlessly cast the dough up and down, side to side. He then smiled, pointed to an overhead fan, suggesting that he could have been casting his roti higher if it weren’t for this. One look inside and you realise that a little passion goes a long way. That’s the secret spice!

Food and Home Entertaining
April 2006