The Pot Luck Club, situated on the top floor of the Silo of the Old Biscuit Mill on Albert Road, Woodstock opened February 14th 2013. Since its opening day the pot luck has filled 2 sitting’s each night throughout high and low season, running to capacity of one hundred and twenty guests. It has been dubbed the coolest place to be in Cape Town and its success is based on innovative cuisine, served in a relaxed yet edgy environment in a part of Cape Town that has never attracted an evening dining crowd.
Luke collaborated with renowned Cape Town based architect Greg Scot along with some of the city’s foremost art and design personalities.
The focal point which has become signatory to Luke’s restaurants is the open plan kitchen which is illuminated by studio lighting giving the impression of a stage. At the centre of this striking stage is any professional chef’s dream, a 1.4 metre Robatta grill and range of Power woks. These are the engines that drive the majority of Pot Luck’s hot dishes imparting authentic fl avours and colour.
Drawing from the best of the original Pot Luck Club situated right next door to the world renowned test kitchen, the new restaurant features the very popular plate-sharing concept. Sharing-plates are cleverly divided into fl avour profi les: salty, sour, bitter, sweet and umami. Assisting with this unique menu, a team of highly trained floor staff will be on hand to guide patrons through their tailormade experience.
Pot Luck’s food and menus are based on the inspiration Dale Roberts has gained from his extensive travels to South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The food is ever evolving and new dishes are developed on a regular basis.The Pot Luck Club concept was developed as a brand that could be transported and replicated in other cities or countries. The menus
are standardized and designed with the idea that wherever you may be eating a Pot Luck dish you will be sure that the appearance, presentation and flavor will be exactly the same.
The Pot Luck Club Verbier was Luke’s first foray into the international circuit. A pop-up that operated throughout the season at Switzerland’s hottest ski destination, Verbier. Located at the stylish ski lodge Hotel Farinet, the pop-up Pot Luck Club was a resounding success that catered to the royal family during their stay there and was fi lled to maximum capacity for the duration of the season.
As well as the lunch and dinner services, The Pot Luck Club is open for Sunday Brunch complete with bubbly on o ffer. Dale Roberts’ new Sunday Brunch concept pays homage to his days in Singapore, where a similar off ering was the city’s culinary highlight of the week. This exciting new addition off ers a casual way to explore the Pot Luck Club food concept where both families and friends can all relax and enjoy an excellent day out at a venue with jaw-dropping vistas of the Mother City and beyond.
A year after it's opening The Pot Luck Club was awarded the 2013 Eat Out Boschendal Style Award which recognises a restaurant which "epitomises style".
Number 9 in the 2015 Eat out Top 10
LUKE DALE-ROBERTS is a name synonymous with the finest, most creative and innovative food in South Africa. Having honed his considerable skills in some of the most renowned kitchens around the world, since coming to Cape Town, Luke has consistently proven his mettle with a string of awards and accolades, last year The Test Kitchen was awarded “Best Restaurant of the Year” at the 2012 Eat Out Dstv Food Network Restaurant Awards in South Africa.
Most recently, in April 2013 Chef Luke Dale-Roberts’s The Test Kitchen was given the “Cacao Barry One To Watch Award” at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards gala ceremony held in London. This prestigious award is given to a restaurant which Restaurant magazine feels is right up there with the very best of the top restaurants in the world. Each year one restaurant is named One To Watch, signifying a belief that come next year this restaurant will most likely appear on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
For a restaurant that is only three and a half years old, as The Test Kitchen is, this is an enormous accolade.
“WE ALL WANT THE SAME THING - FOR THE DINER TO BE BLOWN AWAY BY THE COMBINATION OF FLAVOURS AND THE TASTE EXPERIENCE THAT WE HAVE PUT SO MUCH EFFORT INTO CREATING.”
LUKE DALE-ROBERTSThe Test Kitchen also made an impressive 61st placement, up 13 places from their 74th position as a new entry last year when they first appeared as a New Listing, causing quite a stir of excitement, as it had only been operational since November 2010. Such achievements and honours are unusual in a restaurant so young, which makes the awards all the more signi cant to Luke Dale Roberts who is no stranger to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, having appeared there twice during his time as Head Chef of La Colombe. When he left La Colombe to start his own restaurant in 2010 there were few people who did not express their disbelief but Luke was determined to forge ahead and create his own sort of restaurant. He craved complete creative freedom and his bravery and commitment has paid off . This recognition bestowed on an independent, young restaurant with no corporate backing is certainly something that makes gourmands sit up straight and take notice.
The Test Kitchen, which opened in November 2010, sees the chef cooking his distinctive style of cuisine in an intimate space that also delights design a ficionados.
Time magazine pin pointed the date November 24, 2010, as the day “Woodstock so cially became Cape Town’s hottest district… when Luke Dale-Roberts opened The Test Kitchen there.” Worthy praise indeed.
As its name implies, The Test Kitchen, though primarily a restaurant, a ffords Luke the opportunity for maximum innovation as a chef, as well as being a space to use as “the creative hub” for a variety of di fferent projects. “It symbolises a stage in a creative process,” he says. The intimate 60-seater restaurant provides guests with the option of a casual or more formal dining experience, but always a taste of Luke’s apparently limitless culinary imagination and exquisite presentations.
Following the 2011 Eat Out Dstv Food Network Restaurant Awards, in which Luke was awarded Chef of the Year, Luke not only went on to collaborate with leading food innovators Woolworths on a gourmet Christmas range but in a recession which has sadly seen so many establishments closing their doors, he took the bull by the horns and opened a new dining concept - The Pot Luck Club – at the end of 2011 next door to the Test Kitchen.
