In February 2025, The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg moved from Oxford Parks in Rosebank to a new home at The Peech Hotel in Melrose North.
One of our long-time Cape Town favourites, we were delighted when restaurant legend Luke Dale Roberts first decided to bring his Pot Luck Kitchen to Joburg with its small plates of robust flavours, and its energetic atmosphere.
In its new setting at the boutique hotel The Peech, one of our favourites, it feels as if The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg has finally found its rightful home in Joburg. The space is welcoming while being intimate. The restaurant space, originally known as Basalt, has now been extended and has pretty outdoor terrace seating, and on a summer day you'll enjoy the doors being flung open and eating your food in a space filled with natural light.
The lightness of the space is emphasised by the addition of delicate paper sculptures by the supremely talented Maia Lehr-Sacks that are suspended from the ceiling. If you have been to The Pot Luck Club it will all look familiar — the tableware, the order form, and the pencil that encourages you to record your choices and hand them over to your waiter. The wait staff are dressed in jaunty denim with a pop of local heritage shweshwe fabric on their shirts. Ordering always creates conversation at The Pot Luck Club, as you need to discuss how you will share the dishes with your tablemates.
In fact, this is not a place to visit with people who do not enjoy sharing plates. Open for lunch and dinner, the dishes on offer have been honed. This is casual fine dining, so while the idea is easy eating, you'll notice that each dish contains a complex mix of ingredients.
Standouts on the opening menu are the sashimi, a dish of fresh salmon slices with crispy kataifi srips (spaghetti-like phyllo pastry) with mango atchar and a zingy red curry dressing that is poured at serving. The combination is masterful. We also loved the classic dish that has remained a Pot Luck Club staple since the start – smoked beef fillet, an utterly succulent cut of beef sliced and seated in a sauce of black pepper and truffle cafe au lait. The side order of chickpea, goats cheese and Parmesan fries served with truffle aioli and smoked ketchup was also sublime.
We are big fans of the cocktail menu here, with its savoury choices. On the day we visited, the grapefruit and blood orange sour took our fancy. It's a free-of-alcohol cocktail, but no one will frown if you ask for your favourite tipple to be added. The lemongrass and sake martini is definitely on our list for a follow-up visit, along with the peanut butter bomb dessert – banana mousse with honeycomb crunch, banana tuille and frangelico sabayon.
The service here is always friendly and professional, and great attention is paid to dietary requirements. Booking is essential.
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