Marabi Club, Hallmark House Hotel, Rocking the Daisies and In The City cultural festival owners Steyn Entertainment are taking their hospitality brands to new heights – commencing with the appointment of former Pot Luck Club Cape Town, Basalt and Séjour chef Freddie Dias as Executive Chef to oversee the holding company’s culinary offering.
Dias – then working under Luke Dale Roberts – led a pop-up Pot Luck Club that opened at The Marabi Club in downtown Jo’burg back in 2017 with Steyn Entertainment Co-Founder and Managing Director Dale De Ruig, and Marabi Club General Manager Sicelo Mayiyane, so his return to oversee the country’s finest jazz club as part of his new portfolio is something of a full-circle career journey.
The Marabi Club recently closed for a two-week reshuffle and reopens this week with several new Dias-designed dishes added to the existing menu – and more to come – as well as some minor changes to the jazz club’s floor plan to provide guests with the option of seated dining or popping in for a drink and socialising, while enjoying the venue’s dazzling jazz offering.
Dias will add his touch to the menu upstairs too at Hallmark Hotel’s Thorn restaurant and you can expect a return soon to epic Sunday Brunches on the hotel’s 15th floor Rooftop. Dias will also be working on an array of signature dishes for the VIP sections of the Rocking the Daisies and In The City events calendar. “The overarching idea of what I want to do with the food across the Steyn Entertainment spaces is to keep exploring, searching and trying different ideas,” says Dias. “Exploration has been a driving force behind my career – I’m very curious and I love to try new recipes, produce and ingredients, which gets me out of my comfort zone”.
A return to The Marabi Club he helped form in 2017 – and the chance to work with Mayiyane and De Ruig, both of whom he was at high school with – is an opportunity he couldn’t turn down. “There’s something about being part of a dynamic business and coming back to the place where we all started, to create something new and different that appeals to me,” says Dias. “I’m as passionate about music as I am about food and the chance to bring those two together and make the offering as much about one as it is, the other, lets me be in both worlds – which I think is going to be freeing and great for creativity”.
What Mayiyane wants to see at The Marabi Club – and across the board – is a convergence in one space of the two entertainment elements to create something greater than the sum of the parts. “Some music venues offer an incredible music experience and then guests are let down by the food. At restaurants, the menu takes centre stage and the music is an afterthought,” he says. “Nobody ever went to a music festival like Rocking the Daisies expecting a truly ‘wow’ experience on the food front – but why shouldn’t they, especially if they’ve paid top dollar to be in the VIP section? The future of experiences at restaurants, venues and festivals is about bringing the hospitality elements together at the same high standards to create something exciting for the senses that makes a visit a totally unique experience”.
While he settles in and makes changes to the culinary offering in each of the Steyn Entertainment businesses, Dias doesn’t want to be too radical. “There’s inevitably going to be some stylistic change as I bring my own experience into the offering, but I also want to go back to the way things were when we started at The Marabi Club – a more sharing-style menu where people can sit and order different plates, mix and match and help the food contribute to the convivial atmosphere which is such a hallmark of the venue,” says Dias. “We want a few threads to run through the menu offering, but each property has its own vibe and style and we’ll respect that”.
On the topic of hallmarks, Dias’ influence will extend to the food at the hotel which houses The Marabi Club – Hallmark House, with the trendy Thorn restaurant and the glamorous Rooftop unrivalled 360-degree views over the city. The property is also home to 2022 AHEAD MEA Award-winning Best Suite, designed by South Africa’s awarded interior architect, Tristan Du Plessis and Grammy-award-winning DJ Black Coffee. The music-inspired two-bedroom penthouse – which houses a gym, cinema room and two open-plan living spaces – is filled with colour, texture and fine art from the likes of Nelson Makamo, including hand-picked viola marble, gold detailing and charred solid wood panels, with flooring by MOOOI x African ginger and custom soft furnishings by MaXhosa.
One of the touches Dias is keen to add to Steyn Entertainment is the mentoring of other chefs and cooks across the operation. “Once I had reached a senior position as a chef, spotting talent and nurturing it has always been really important to me. It’s about looking after the people around me, supporting them and learning alongside them,” he says. “After 20 years on the pass, I’m confident in my cooking ability and now I want to evolve as a leader, which also means unlearning some of the elements that formed part of my early career and helping chart a path for the chefs who will take South African cuisine into the future”.
Says, De Ruig, “Steyn Entertainment was founded in 2015 and the company currently holds eight hospitality and entertainment businesses within its portfolio. We’ve enjoyed steady and considered growth over the past nine years with 2024 being a significant year of acceleration. Having Sicelo and Freddie alongside me as we enter a new chapter ensures a high level of professionalism and consistency in our businesses”.
In short, three buddies from school are back working together – and it’s going to be an awesome journey.
The Marabi Club at Hallmark House is located at 54 Siemert Road, New Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Open from Thursdays to Saturdays, 18h30 ‘til late. For bookings, go to www.hallmarkhouse.info, call +27 (0) 10 591 2879 or email info@themarabiclub.com.
