Luke Dale Roberts needs no introduction on these pages; we’ve written about the near-legendary chef twice and the accolades keep rolling in for him and his Test Kitchen.  He could have spent December basking in the afterglow of his Chef of the Year award; instead he was putting the finishing touches to his brand new venture situated right next to the existing restaurant, The Pot Luck Club.

We were a group of 5 lucky friends visiting the restaurant recently; all huge fans of The Test Kitchen.  We could order almost all the dishes on the small menu; we were not missing out on a single plate!

This is no ordinary plate of food served to the unexpected visitor, or food just anyone can  contribute to a pot luck club; Chef Luke’s small plates are carefully developed by him and his team – individual dishes are even named after them: “Ash’s Tuna Tartare” (R60) was one of our favourites along with “Ivor’s crispy duck spring roll” (R30).  “Ash” is of course Sunday Times Young Chef of the Year for 2011; attesting to the calibre of staff in Luke’s kitchen.

The crispy curried celery leaves (R20) were eaten with gusto by The Navigator.  Yes, he ate leaves and he loved it!  The leaves were crispy, not overly spiced and not oily at all, just incredibly fragrant, even refreshing on the palate.

There were firm favourites among us:  we all agreed the steamed scallops with grapefruit (R60) were simply exquisite; with the grapefruit adding a most interesting zing to the dish.  I thought (at that moment) that it would be my dish of the evening…then the Pork Rib (R60) made Chinese style with dark beer and doenjang glaze arrived: a triumph of balance between sweet and meaty had us licking our fingers.  The crispy pork belly (R45) with Luke’s XO dressing had The Navigator smiling from ear to ear and five of us all reaching for the last morsel on that plate.

I can write a whole paragraph about the smoked beef fillet (R80); you know it’s smoked, so it will be fantastic but noooo, they added the most elegant, rich and decadent black pepper and truffle “café au lait” sauce (take note “sauce” is far too common a word to describe it).  I will eat that fillet 7 days a week and still lick the plate, every time.

There’s also dessert: Wesley’s tapioca, passion fruit sorbet and toasted coconut (R45) and Fresh summer berries with fig leaf ice cream (R50).  The cocktails are different and wonderful;  the wine list hip and happening – all not outrageously priced.

Décor is clean and understated , service is efficient and Chef Luke wanders out from behind the kitchen counter chatting about the food.  This is the pot at the end of the rainbow and it’s filled with plates of heaven.

www.thepotluckclub.co.za

021 – 447 2337

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