Twenty two curries cooked fresh this morning and kept hot, around twenty more made to order, breads baked to order in the tandoor. Open 7 days from 10:30am to 10:00pm, with the kitchen serving right through the afternoon.
Raj's Corner is at 116 Beaumont Street, Hamilton, with Raj's Spice and Groceries, the family's Indian grocery, next door. Walk in and eat in the dining room, ring ahead and pick it up, or have it delivered. The counter has been here since 1998 and the kitchen does not close between lunch and dinner.
Raj's Corner opened in 1998 as a counter rather than a restaurant: curries in trays behind glass, breads from the tandoor, dinner handed over in a paper bag. That counter is still how most of Hamilton orders. You look at what is in the trays, point at what you want, and choose small, medium or large.
The dining room came later. Friday queues were running out the door and onto the footpath, so the shop was extended in 2011 to put tables behind the counter. Every curry in those trays was cooked fresh this morning and kept hot, a same day batch that is never held over to the next day. That is the whole point of the counter: what you point at is ready when you order it, which is why the queue keeps moving on a busy Friday.
The breads are a different story. Naan and roti are baked to order in the tandoor every single time, so they reach you hot from the oven rather than off a shelf. They are not on the counter at all.
The counter is the fast option, not the only one. Anything on the menu can be cooked fresh to order, so if what you want is not out in the trays, or you would simply rather have yours made from the start, ask and the kitchen will cook it. That is around twenty more dishes beyond the twenty two on display.
Nothing is cooked with MSG and nothing arrives frozen. Samosa pastry, naan dough, dips and sauces are made on site every day, and the spices come from Raj's Spice and Groceries next door. Every dish on the board carries its GF, NF, DF and V codes, so you can order without a long conversation about ingredients.
Three sizes on the curries, one size on the biryani. You order at the counter, and anything on this list can be cooked fresh for you if you would rather not take it from the trays.
$10.90 small, $14.90 medium, $16.90 large. Chickpeas, eggplant, paneer, dhal and mixed vegetables are among the trays on display most days.
$11.90 small, $17.90 medium, $19.90 large. Chicken, lamb, beef, goat and fish, including the butter chicken that sells fastest.
$17.90 vegetable, $18.90 chicken, lamb, beef or goat. All large, all served with yoghurt and salad. There is more on our biryani page.
Up to three curries in one container, three sizes, on rice or without. The quickest way to feed two people who cannot agree.
Plain naan $4.50, garlic naan $4.90, rice $5.50 to $7.50, pappadums $3.50. Every bread is baked to order in the tandoor, so it comes out hot for your table and nothing sits waiting.
Entrees $1.90 to $4.90, samosas included. Indian sweets are sold by the piece from about $1.50, or by the kilo to take home.
Order ahead and collect it at 116 Beaumont Street, or have it delivered free after 5:00pm within 5km.
Kuldip Sangha, born in Budhlada in Punjab, and Sylvia Sangha, born in Australia, ran Flavours of North India in Coogee from 1991 and several Sydney stores before Hamilton. Sylvia oversees the shop today.
Paramjit Atwal manages Hamilton and has been with the family since the Sydney kitchens. The Newcastle Herald wrote about the shop in 2017 and again in 2018, noting customers driving in from as far as Tamworth.
Hamilton was already an eating street when Raj's Corner arrived, but it was Italian, Greek and steak. North Indian cooking was the new thing on the block, and it stayed. We also cater across Newcastle and the Hunter, which our catering page covers.
Raj's Corner is at 116 Beaumont Street, Hamilton NSW 2303, on the Hamilton restaurant strip. The easiest landmark is Raj's Spice and Groceries, the family's Indian grocery, which is right next door on the same street. The phone number is (02) 4962 1827.
Raj's Corner Hamilton is open 7 days from 10:30am to 10:00pm, and the kitchen serves right through the afternoon rather than closing between lunch and dinner. The one exception is the South Indian section: dosas, utthapam and idli sambar stop at 8:30pm, so come earlier if that is what you are after.
Yes. There is a dining room, added in 2011, and you are welcome to sit and eat in it. There are no reservations and none are needed: walk in, order at the counter where twenty two curries are on display, and take a seat. Those curries were cooked fresh this morning and kept hot, so they are ready when you order. Breads are baked to order in the tandoor, and anything on the menu can be cooked fresh for you if you would rather not take it from the trays.
Yes. Delivery is free after 5:00pm within a 5km radius of 116 Beaumont Street, Hamilton. Before 5:00pm, and outside that radius, the option is to order ahead online or by phone and pick it up from the counter.
A combo from $9.90 is the usual first order: up to three curries in one container, three sizes, on rice or without, so you can try butter chicken next to a vegetarian tray. Add a plain naan at $4.50 or garlic naan at $4.90. If you would rather one dish done properly, the biryani at $17.90 vegetable or $18.90 chicken, lamb, beef or goat comes large with yoghurt and salad.
Eat in the dining room, order ahead for pick up, or have dinner delivered. Raj's Corner also has a Newcastle venue at 126 Darby Street, Cooks Hill NSW 2300 on (02) 4926 2443, open 7 days 10:30am to 9:30pm, with its own menu and prices: pick the venue you want on the ordering page.
