Duncan Welgemoed’s new restaurant Africola opens

AFRICOLA, the new venture from chef Duncan Welgemoed, promises a dining experience unlike anything Adelaide has seen before.

SLOW-roasted sheep heads, flying machetes, and cocktails made with pig fat and black garlic ... Africola, the new venture from well-known chef Duncan Welgemoed that opens today, promises a dining experience unlike anything Adelaide has seen before.

Working with hot-shot designer James Brown, Welgemoed has created a contemporary version of a “shebeen”, the raucous informal bars of apartheid-era townships in South Africa, where he was raised.

He will “perform” in an open kitchen, with a fire pit, spit and butcher’s block where whole roasted animals will be prepared for service.

“People will be sitting around the kitchen,” Welgemoed says.

“I’ll be wearing a leather apron with bone saws, machete and axes carving all the meat. It’s certainly not Jamie Oliver’s.”

In a year of high-profile restaurant openings that has included Jamie’s Italian and Sean’s Kitchen, this is perhaps the biggest week of all.

The Barossa version of regional favourite Fino will be launched at Seppeltsfield on Friday, while Walter Ventura’s amalgam of art and food, Cliche Exhibition, opened at the weekend.