The new eatery has all the flavour of the CBD’s original Africola, with a focus on daytime, takeaway trade and a serious salad game.
You can make friends with kale salad.
Just ask Joel Tisato, head chef of Africola Canteen in Norwood – the brand spanking new sister venue of Duncan Welgemoed’s restaurant Africola.
It’s got all the flavour, with a little less fire (it aims to be family-friendly), of the original East End restaurant, but is a daytime, takeaway-focused operation with serious salad game. That includes Tisato’s favourite kale number, tossed with a garlicky lemon tahini dressing and kimchi furikake.
“I would never go order a kale salad, but we’ve made this one and it’s the one I’m snacking on all the time,” says Joel, who’s been with the Africola family for around three-and-a-half years.
“It’s a more accessible version of Africola – somewhere you can walk in and in 10 minutes you’ll have your food; the same flavours of Africola food you love … in this new format, and in the suburbs.”
Related story: Boom shakalaka! Africola is opening a new canteen on The Parade
Africola Canteen is not a restaurant. It’s not quite a cafe. Think salad bar – with a few “not salad” bits, with a handful of tables if you do want to sit for a quick bite. There’ll be 50-odd salads on rotation, with the idea being you can grab a couple to take home for dinner or along to a barbecue.
Non-salady things include a contemporary spin on the retro classic, meat loaf, and the ‘Canteen cup of soup’.
“It’s a jelly bone broth with edamame noodles for $10, and I think that’s great value and it’s really sticky and unctuous,” Welgemoed says.
“We want to be all things to all people and open seven days a week.”
Welgemoed’s South African inspired restaurant Africola has received wide acclaim since opening a decade ago, and was awarded Restaurant of the Year in the 2017 The Advertiser Food Awards.
“I remember when we first opened Africola, it was a little bit polarising for the first year; it was very dramatic,” Welgemoed says. “For this, it’s the complete opposite. The food will appeal to anyone who is health conscious; everything is low-carb, good fats, organic regenerative ingredients, and it’s food you would never have anywhere else in the world.
“It’s Ottolenghi on steroids.”
Africola Canteen
Shop 1/89 The Parade, Norwood SA 5069
Daily, 10.30am-7pm
africolacanteen.com
Related review: delicious. 100 SA: Africola, Adelaide
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