Some nights at The Marabi Club start quietly, but end with the whole room singing along to songs everyone seems to know. That kind of joy can’t be planned, and it has kept people coming back since 2017.
Now the club has a new home. The Marabi Club, founded by TJ Steyn and Dale de Ruig of Steyn Entertainment, held its official opening night in October 2026 in the basement of Steyn City’s City Centre. It’s the jazz club’s first home since it closed in Maboneng in May 2025.
The original Marabi Club opened in what had once been the flooded, unusable underground parking garage of Hallmark House in New Doornfontein. It took its name from the music that grew out of Johannesburg’s inner city’s shebeens in the 1920s and 1930s.
Marabi music was dance music built on a few looping chords with musicians improvising over the top, for as long as the party lasted. It became the foundation for much of the South African jazz that followed
Loyal regulars
For eight years, guests drove in from across the north of Joburg to that inner city club to make a night of it. But as the neighbourhood emptied after the pandemic, keeping the doors open grew harder. The move to Steyn City brings it closer to those loyal regulars, while residents of the estate can simply walk there or take a short drive.
The club now sits in the basement of the City Centre, beside a piazza with a water feature and large windows that let in the daylight – ideal for long Sunday lunches with live music. By night, it’s the place to drop in after work or a round of golf, settle in for an intimate dinner for two, or gather a group of friends around a long table.
A room built for sound
With five storeys of apartments overhead, the room had to give the band a full, warm sound while keeping the residents above undisturbed. Getting that balance right delayed the opening, but the wait has been worth it. Inside, the band can play as loud as the night calls for. Step out the back door and you’d think the place was closed.
How you spend the evening is up to you. Arrive at 6pm for dinner and be on your way by 8pm, or come in for a nightcap and take in the band. There’s no monthly line-up to check. The Marabi Jazz Band, who playfully refer to themselves as Marabi Radio, and a core group of musicians and vocalists rotate through the week. The invitation is simply to trust that the night will be good. Some nights a DJ takes over after midnight, and while doors officially close at 2am, nobody gets chased out. As the music winds down, you can wander into the cigar lounge, where the night ends the way the best ones do – over one last drink and a deep conversation.
Food made for sharing
As always at Marabi, music and food carry equal weight. The kitchen is led by chef Patricio Nzinga, who previously ran the kitchen at Mhondoro Safari Lodge. The menu is à la carte: smaller starters made for sharing, and larger mains cater for meat-lovers, vegetarians and vegans. Nzinga’s cooking draws on Mediterranean flavours, Japanese precision with the knife and classic French technique, with African influences set to come through more strongly as the menu develops.
The chef’s recommendation is the sea bass on a mussel velouté with fricassee of leeks, peas and pickled mussels. Dessert is worth saving room for – the Not a Tiramisu, with coffee and liqueur folded through the mascarpone, and a fresh lychee pavlova for summer. The Marabi kitchen has a history of backing new talent. The original club gave chefs Katlego Mlambo and Vusi Ndlovu their first head chef roles, both who have gone on to win awards in their own right.
Décor that tells a story
Walk in and you know you’re at Marabi, even though everything has changed. Architect Dean Simon, who designed the original club, approaches a space the way a collector would. He settles on the feeling of the room first, then goes looking at scrap yards, auctions and private collections, and adjusts the plan around what he finds. The wall of the private dining area was once the facade of an old shopfront, its door and stained glass reworked into the room, while wood panelling salvaged from the city’s old shoe-shine stands adds another layer of Joburg’s history.
A few treasured pieces have travelled up from Maboneng. Overhead, old waskoms have found new life as pendant lights, their pierced metal scattering a warm, uneven glow, while vintage radios line the walls and the kitchen sits open at the heart of the space. Photographs of South African music greats hang throughout, among them Peter Rezant of the Merry Blackbirds, and a large portrait of the band’s pianist, Emily Motsieloa presides over the bar – a quiet tribute to the musicians who shaped the sound the club is named after.
In a nutshell
Where: Basement level, City Centre, Steyn City, Riverglen, Midrand
Trading hours: Thursday to Saturday 6pm to 2am | Sunday 12pm to 5pm
Bookings essential: book online via www.marabiclub.com
Dress code: Smart casual
Steyn City is a gated estate. Bring ID for every person in the car. Follow the signs to the City Centre
