If you are struggling to keep with all the latest new restaurants and delicious foodie trends popping up on Joburg’s dining scene, we’ve got you covered!
From an exciting new shopping and dining complex that incorporates the history of one of Joburg’s oldest heritage sites, to buzzing new nightlife options in Greenside and Rosebank and a young new fine dining chef cooking up a storm downtown, here’s this month’s essential Freshly Plated round-up of the latest Joburg restaurant news.
Social Parkwood arrives on Park Corner
From the same management who kickstarted the revival of the corner of Bolton Road and Jan Smuts Avenue with the bistro-bar Bolton Road Collection, comes a colourful new spot occupying the same premises, the lively Social Parkwood eatery and bar. The look and feel is similar to its sister venue, the popular Social on Main in Bryanston, with an extensive menu of cocktails, craft gins and craft beers, plus good wines, plenty of small plates and meaty mains on the food menu and DJs on the weekends.
The interiors have been completely remodelled, putting a long bar in prime position, while there’s also more indoor-outdoor seating options with the entire facade of the corner now partially open to the street. When it comes to atmosphere, the clue is in the name. The newly opened Social Parkwood is already an afterwork nightlife hotspot of note in the middle of what is rapidly becoming one of the most popular bar-hopping destinations in the northern suburbs.
Exciting new restaurants, cafes and shops on the way at Rand Steam
After a long battle to save the site from total destruction, Joburg’s historic Rand Steam Laundries in Richmond, which opened in the 1890s to keep Joburg’s dusty mining camp laundered, has been saved from complete demolition and reopens this month as a stylish food, shopping and lifestyle complex. Through careful rebuilding and restoration, the complex retains a sense of the site’s unique history and pays tribute to the Zulu ‘Amawasha’ who once worked here.
The work on the remarkable transformation of the Rand Steam Laundries (which was almost completely demolished to make way for a car dealership) is now complete and from April 26 the new Rand Steam complex opens to the public. Anchor tenants include a Clicks pharmacy and Pick n Pay and Woolworths supermarkets while exciting new dining options to look out for include the Bootleggers coffee shop, a branch of the pizza chain Col’cacchio, Cowfish, a fun eatery from Pretoria that promises gourmet burgers, sushi and cocktails and a stylish new Indian diner Curry Up.
Greenside’s new live music venue The Office Piano and Wok Bar
The newest dining and drinking destination to arrive on Greenside’s dining strip Gleneagles Road is The Office Piano and Wok Bar, a new venue that promises a satisfying mix of cocktails, Asian-inspired food and regular live music performances. The menu is a ‘build-your-own’ approach to Asian dishes fired up in a wok (prepared in an open kitchen) paired up with an extensive selection of cocktails.
The Marabi Club welcomes new Head Chef
This month The Marabi Club in Maboneng welcomed a new young head chef, Katlego Sebastian Mlambo. Formerly group sous chef for Luke Dale-Roberts’ award-winning Cape Town restaurants, the Joburg-born chef returns home to bring his extensive experience to the Joburg plate.
Mlambo has already been busy developing his own unique menu for The Marabi Club which features a variety of small sharing plates with what is described as “crisp, clean, aggressive flavours; limited starch and a balance between the buttery, creamy hues of French training and the fresh, clean influences of Asian cuisine”.
And while making his mark on the new Marabi Club menu Mlambo is also putting in an appearance at the Mandela 100 Years USA event in Washington DC on April 27. Mlambo is acting as lead chef for the prestigious gala dinner which is timed to coincide with Freedom Day and is hosted by Barack Obama at the African American History Museum. For the event Mlambo will be presenting a refined South African menu that plays homage to classic South African dishes, including a fine dining take on the classic Seven Colours dinner.