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, starting with the appointment of former Pot Luck Club Cape Town, Basalt and Séjour chef Freddie Dias as Executive Chef to oversee the company’s culinary offering.
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, 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 jazz offering.
A return to The Marabi Club that Dias helped form in 2017, and the chance to work with Sicelo Mayiyane and Dale De Ruig, both of whom he was in high school with, was 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,” Dias 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.”
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.
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”.
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, with unrivalled 360-degree views over the city.
De Ruig says, “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.
IOL Lifestyle