South African-born, French-trained and Adelaide-based, Duncan Welgemoed is a chef of many flavours. But the soundtrack is always Nine Inch Nails. Over the years, he’s become Adelaide’s unofficial spirit animal – mythical beast, troublemaker, conversation starter. His latest restaurant, Africola, tells a story close to his heart.
Growing up in the ’80s in northern Johannesburg, an area heavily populated by expats and Jewish people (“second-class citizens in the eyes of the Afrikaans government”), Welgemoed, 34, describes it as being quite removed from the segregation that affected other areas thanks to its affluence and strong arts community. But no area was immune to the violence of apartheid.
In 2006, Chef Welgemoed moved to Australia to work at the two Michelin-starred restaurant, “Quay,” where he was part of the team that earned the restaurant its first Michelin star. He then went on to work at “Orana” in Adelaide, where he was the head chef, earned the restaurant its first hat in the Good Food Guide and was named Gourmet Traveller’s “Chef of the Year” in 2018.
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