Africola, Adelaide

Chef Duncan Welgemoed has returned to his South African roots after a journey that’s taken him through several UK Michelin-starred restaurants. Africola is brashly outfitted with a design scheme that suggests Mambo-meets-Frida-Kahlo-meets-African-shebeen. The menu opens with the Afrikaner favourite, biltong, then veers into the unknown with dishes such as smoked mussels and spanner crab on charred cos lettuce hearts. The showstopper is a roasted cow’s head, served in the form of three different dishes. There’s lots of fire, both in the hearth and in the belly. Sometimes challenging, always delicious, invariably great fun.