Following on from our most recent June updates on new restaurant arrivals in Sandton, Westcliff, Craighall and Rosebank, here’s even more exciting restaurant news to keep you busy this month.
New in Maboneng – Cape Town’s Pot Luck Club pops up as the Pop Luck Club
Big news for Joburg restaurant fans! One of the world’s top chefs, Luke Dale Roberts of Cape Town’s Pot Luck Club and The Test Kitchen, is set to host a pop-up restaurant called The Pop Luck Club at the new Hallmark House Hotel in Maboneng, a contemporary landmark building design by celebrated British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye. Items on the menu at the new pop-up restaurant include Pot Luck’s famous fish tacos, Panko-crusted octopus and the intriguing ‘Heaven’s Bacon’ (almond and apple tart, burnt peanut butter, popcorn ice cream, and maple glazed bacon).
The Pop Luck Club opens July 5 and runs until September, Wednesday to Saturday (18:30-22:30) and Sunday for brunch (12:30-15:30).
New in Maboneng – Sphere Monk takes over The Cosmopolitan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVEo2GYDfL4/?taken-by=sphere_monk
Taking over the beautiful ground floor space of Maboneng’s Victorian heritage building The Cosmopolitan, is a fine dining tapas restaurant and bar Sphere Monk (named for jazz pianist Thelonius Monk, whose friends called him ‘Sphere’). Sphere Monk takes over the space that was occupied by The Cosmopolitan Bar and the Cube Tasting Kitchen that was run by one of Joburg’s leading chefs Dario De Angeli. Sphere Monk is headed by Joburg-born and Swiss-trained chef Liam Bloy, a graduate of the Cesar Ritz Culinary Arts Academy. Expect ‘fine tapas’, good wines and cocktails and live jazz performances. Sphere Monk is open Wed from 15:00, Thu-Sat 11:00-15:00 and 17:00 until late, Sun 11:00-18:00. Tel. +27 81 392 3726. Reservations can be made online.
Closing in Birnam – Bistro Michel
The popular French restaurant Bistro Michel in Birnam’s Blubird Centre is set to close from the end of June. Chef and owner Michel Morand will continue to delight fans with his Exclusively Yours Catering business but we are certainly hoping that Joburg diners will be reunited with his iconic duck and cherry pie and perfect Toulouse cassoulet at another restaurant venture in the near future.
New in Illovo – Momo Soko
Greenside’s phenomenally popular Taiwanese street food restaurant Momo Baohaus has opened a second branch called Momo Soko at the Illovo Muse centre. On the menu are all the same spicy classics such as Korean fried chicken, Taiwanese baos and salmon tacos that have made the Greenside restaurant such a hit. New to the menu is a selection of delicious soko, delicate yakitori-style meat skewers marinated in a variety of Asian herbs, spices and sauces such as sriracha, kimchi, miso butter, toasted garlic and sesame. The new Momo Soko is as small as its Greenside sibling with seating for around 30 diners so booking is essential. Call +27 11 268 6182 to reserve a table.