Gold Room will bring Michelin-star French cuisine to the City of Gold

Exciting news for discerning Joburg foodies: The Gold Room, a new fine-dining restaurant headed by renowned French Michelin-starred chef Daniel Galmiche, is due to open at the exclusive QSL Member’s Club in Milpark in September.

The QSL Club is the joint vision of entrepreneurs Rahim Rawjee and Ronald Ndoro (of Library Private Members’ Club in London’s Covent Garden), who have created a space for members to do business and relax in urban luxury. To this end, the club contains work spaces, a boardroom, lounges, bars, dining spaces, 32 bedrooms, a spa, gym and pool – and gorgeous views of the Jozi skyline.

Along with the Gold Room, QSL will also contain two other restaurants: a French-style brasserie servicing the club’s bars and lounges, and an African fusion eatery to open later this year.

The Gold Room will showcase Galmiche's signature style of modern French, Mediterranean-style cooking using local produce sourced from farms around South Africa. His love affair with sustainable, organic food began in his childhood in rural France, where he’d go for Sunday lunch at his great aunt’s farm every week.

At just 15 years old, he began working in some of Europe’s finest restaurants, eventually moving on to head up kitchens in Singapore, Portugal, Sweden and the UK.

Over the course of three decades, he was awarded four consecutive Michelin stars and currently heads up the kitchen at The Gore in Kensington, London.

As opposed to his other restaurants which Galmiche describes as “classic”, he says that the Gold Room will be more creative with a twist. The specific menu is still under wraps, and he says there will be a notable wine selection – with plenty by the glass to pair with the food – that will also include bio-dynamic and organic South African wines.

The restaurant will seat just 42 people for evening service only, in an elegant, yet relaxed setting.

In Galmiche's view, Joburg is well on its way to competing with Cape Town as a food destination – and with exclusive new restaurants like the Gold Room, the number of high-end dining options in the city continues to grow.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Times Neighbourhood: Property and Lifestyle guides. Visit Yourneighbourhood.co.za