Roberts closes Salon, heads to Tswalu Kalahari Reserve

Carla Schulze and Luke Dale Roberts.

Luke Dale Roberts will launch a new restaurant (to be called Boscia) at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa’s largest private wildlife reserve, owned by the Oppenheimer family.

The menu, developed with Carla Schulze (executive chef of Salon, former head development chef at The Test Kitchen) and Dillan Kannemeyer (currently Salon’s head chef), will showcase locally inspired, globally influenced cuisine in one of Africa’s most remote dining locations. Salon will close at the end of March 2026, with much of the team moving to Tswalu. 

Klein JAN, the collaboration between Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen and Tswalu Kalahari, closed after flooding in 2025 impacted parts of the reserve. The parties subsequently agreed to part ways. Dale Roberts is set to open his new venture in the second half of 2026, in a reimagined version of the space that previously housed Klein JAN.