Pot Luck Club, Cape Town

RestaurantsTravel

10 Jan

Our Rating: ★★★ | ££££ - Incredible food in a laid-back atmosphere (How we rate restaurants)

Pot Luck Club (Chef Luke Dale-Roberts’ restaurant in The Old Biscuit Mill) was one of our favourite meals from our month-long stay in Cape Town.

We went for lunch and grabbed seats at the kitchen counter, which turned out to be the best decision. Watching the kitchen team in full flow while dishes landed in front of us made the whole experience feel immersive and exciting.

The cocktails were genuinely inventive, playful without being gimmicky, and the food itself was outstanding. Every plate felt thoughtful, confident, and full of flavour, with a level of quality that stayed with us long after we left. Joy is the theme of this restaurant… and it shows!

We highly recommend booking a table at Pot Luck Club. It is the kind of meal you will still be talking about once you are back home.

What we ate

The menu follows a sharing plates concept, and you are presented with an ordering slip to fill out. The waiting staff are extremely helpful if you need some help crafting your order. We had:

Yellowtail ceviche
Crispy squid ‘Bibimbap’
Cape Malay crispy cauliflower
Chikpeas, goatscheese and Parmesan fries
Smoked beef fillet

The yellowtail ceviche was incredible. It immediately reminded us of one of our favourite dishes ever from Cultiva Farm in Nairobi, with that sharp, tangy coconut-based sauce, almost like a Thai green curry in ceviche form. Bright, fresh, and beautifully balanced.

The crispy squid was very good, if not quite as distinctive as some of the other dishes. Perfectly cooked and seriously tasty, to the point that if you did not know what you were eating, you could easily mistake it for chicken.

The Cape Malay cauliflower was a surprise highlight. Deep, rich flavour with a lovely caramelisation and a texture that showed just how good cauliflower can be when it is treated properly. Comforting and indulgent without feeling heavy.

The beef fillet was cooked beautifully, with a great texture and a deep, savoury sauce. The only thing it needed was a sharper element or garnish to cut through the richness, but it was still a strong dish overall.

Finally, the chickpea and goat’s cheese chips were outstanding. Crisp on the outside, soft inside, and full of flavour.

Don’t sleep on the cocktails

The cocktails were just as impressive as the food. Sharp, well-balanced, and genuinely unique, they felt thoughtfully designed rather than experimental for the sake of it.

Alice went for the Thai Green Curry Martini, which somehow managed to be aromatic, savoury, and refreshing all at once. Zaeem chose the Tom Yum, a playful, mojito-like drink with bright citrus and herbal notes that worked beautifully.