Freddie Dias, former chef at Séjour, an Eat Out star restaurant, has been made executive chef at Steyn Entertainment and will oversee the holding company’s culinary offerings. His first project in his new role will focus on The Marabi Club – a full-circle moment for the chef who led a pop-up Pot Luck Club at the jazz club back in 2017. “I was part of the opening team in 2017, then I was head chef of the Pot Luck Club. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot. Now I get to come back and put my own mark on the place. It’s very exciting,” says Freddie, who also previously headed up the kitchen at Basalt in Melrose, Joburg.  

 

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The Marabi Club recently closed for a reshuffle and has reopened with several new Dias-inspired dishes added to the existing menu. “I want to bring back some of the original spark we had when we opened. [I want the restaurant to] have a menu and dining experience that is reminiscent of the Marabi that I opened, but one that has evolved over seven years – after a few chefs have been here, after Covid. I have been back in Joburg for five years now and I have changed a lot since then. I want the menu to reflect that,” explains Freddie. 

Diners can expect “simple, comforting food, but with a lot of finesse and technique.” Dishes such as slow-braised beef short rib with smoked mashed potato and roasted heirloom carrots, and grilled line fish with braised cabbage and charred Brussels sprouts with a sesame dressing, finished with a rich lemon velouté and wild garlic oil. They’ll also find intricate desserts, like the Notorious Naartjie – “a layered dessert with a rich black pepper crème catalan, stem ginger, honeycomb and pistachio, topped with a refreshing naartjie and basil granita” – which has become one of Freddie’s signature dishes.  

 

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A man who draws inspiration from his surroundings, Freddie is excited to be back in the Marabi Club kitchen. “Marabi is all about expression and storytelling. The music inspires me. The freedom of expression and creativity and the courage to showcase that is very inspiring for me. Music and cooking are very similar in many ways, and I love how the two can feed off each other here,” he says. “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”. 

There have also been a few changes to The Marabi Club’s floor plan so that guests have the option of seated dining or popping in for a drink and socialising while appreciating the cool jazz beats. “All I want for anyone who comes to Marabi is for them to have an incredible experience. To be in a space where they can have wonderful music, amazing food and a place of escape from the big scary world out there.”   

And his hopes for the Joburg dining scene? “Joburg is a big, very fast paced city. Often, very special things like the arts, music and creative cooking are overlooked and not seen to be important in this city. I would like to see a change in that more restaurants are brave enough to step out of the safe ‘Joburg menu’, I would like to see places that really put substance over style.”