Welgemoed, D: Africola

South African by birth, Duncan Welgemoed is currently one of Australia's most-watched, well-connected and sought-after culinary talents. His dishes are renowned for hitting all five senses hard, and then some.
His food is shaped by his South African heritage and a home life defined by passion, drive and a side of eccentricity. A chef father, Portuguese and Italian godparents, a music addiction and the fraught cultural melting pot that is South Africa have developed the core of Welgemoed's ethos: do it with love, take no prisoners, buck trends.
In the UK, Duncan was head chef at The Goose at Britwell Salome, Watlington, Oxford when it was awarded a Michelin star in 2005. He then moved to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons and thrived there.
In early 2010, he moved to South Australia and Bistro Dom (see awards, below); then opened Africola in 2014, in a collaboration with James Brown (interior for Sydney's Harpoon Harry, Bali's Motel Mexicola, Melbourne's Hotel Jesus, EVO).
Africola won best new restaurant in SA and best in state in the Australian Financial Review in under one year after opening. Less than two years after opening, Africola has been awarded 4/5 Australians by The Australian's food editor John Lethlean, appeared in Conde Nast, The New Yorker, GQ and Travel and Leisure magazine.