The Hot Seat | The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg

The most recent addition to acclaimed chef Luke Dale Roberts’ foray into Johannesburg is The Pot Luck Club, which sees the chef bring an iteration of his famed small plate eatery to the City of Gold.

Where the Cape Town property sits atop the Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town, Joburg’s one can be found on the ground floor of the ever-evolving Oxford Parks. Dale Roberts, a driving force in bringing some serious foodie credibility to the precinct, also has his The Shortmarket Club eatery just across the way.

The space for The Pot Luck Club was, for a brief stint, The Test Kitchen Carbon. A fine-dining concept which, while quite spectacular in terms of its culinary offering, just wasn’t what Joburg wanted when it comes to dining out. It was arguably too fine, too conceptual and too structured, its fine service just didn’t allow for the required peacocking that most of the city think mandatory for an evening out to be considered well spent. Quiet luxury be damned.

So, the ever-innovative Dale Roberts has taken the space and converted it to The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg — a grand idea given that the eatery’s small plate, big flavour, globally inspired menu is far more attuned to the style of eating favoured by the city. It’s less serious, allows for more choice and while certainly some mighty good food, doesn’t require the cooking to be centre stage at all times.

The design has been subtly adapted to better suit the vibe and look of The Pot Luck Club with the help of artist Hannelie Coetzee — the artist behind the wood etching that runs the length of the restaurant. She not only breathed new life into her work by painting over the charred black but she also custom created the series of Japanese rice paper pendant lights — featuring her flying fish drawings — which hang throughout the space.

Overseeing the kitchen will be The Pot Luck Club executive chef Jason Kosmas together with head chef for Johannesburg Ebie du Toit. The two are co-creating the culinary offering for the space together with Dale Roberts.

The menu features a host of Pot Luck Cape Town favourites, there’s of course the fillet with the chef’s signature café au lait sauce, the line fish and black bean “taco 2.0” and the famous amasi-battered hake fish sliders.

Then there are those dishes which have been given a twist as they’ve headed up north, such as the beef tataki — here served with a caper dressing and an umami-rich, roast garlic aioli. The crispy squid is another such dish, which has swapped out accoutrements of sweetcorn, nduja and xo sauce for atchar, malay pickles and an apricot and curry leaf.

Other dishes have been designed specifically for Joburg’s menu, these include the likes of the peri-peri chicken with ajo blanco and the pork belly al pastor — both offering up some heartier portion sizes for the appetites that call for it, with all the usual Pot Luck flavour.

Last but not least is dessert: the “peanut butter bomb” with its layers and textures of banana, peanut butter, honeycomb and Frangelico is worth the visit alone. As too are the exceptional selection of PLC cocktails, which are as suited to an after-dinner drink as they for an aperitif. The Thai Green Curry martini is a must.

The eatery has also just launched its version of The Pot Luck Club brunch. The multi-course Sunday brunch, which remains one of Cape Town’s best-kept secrets, is sure to be a hit on Joburg’s foodie scene.

The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg199 Oxford Road, Dunkeld Johannesburg

Open for lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday; Sunday brunch from 11am. For reservations, visit thepotluckclubjhb.co.za