Michelin Guide to put South Australian hospitality on the map, says Africola chef

The interstate culinary rivalry has always rung strong for South African chef Duncan Welgemoed.

First moving to South Australia in 2010, he’s seen the state evolve from a place chefs struggled to find work to one with 12 Michelin stars.

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“I was quite vocal about giving the middle finger to the eastern states, purely based on the fact that no one actually took South Australia seriously on a food basis,” he said.

For Welgemoed, it was a four week booze and food festival called Lola’s Pergola in 2013 that paved the way for some of the state’s success.

“We brought in young chefs from all over Australia who had never done events before, who are now some of the most established chefs in the country,” he said.

“We were making wine on site. We had a natural wine bar, which was completely unheard of back then.”

Welgemoed said it sparked a wave of young waiters, winemakers, pourers and chefs to open their own businesses and become established entrepreneurs within the hospitality industry.

“That was a real kind of catalyst I think to basically say that we can do things differently and in some regards, better and more ambitious.”

It was this ambition that drove a burgeoning culinary scene in South Australia, featuring the likes of the late Scottish-born chef Jock Zonfrillo who later became a national icon blending Indigenous ingredients with modern cuisine and later becoming host of Masterchef Australia.

“Jock Zonfrillo and myself were the early guys post Cheong (Liew) era to really start to do things a bit differently,” Welgemoed said.

“It’s something Jock was also pushing for because he also saw the potential of what this means on an international basis.”

The very restaurant that Zonfrillo built a household name for himself became the first and only restaurant in the country to earn two stars in the new Michelin Food Guide on Thursday.

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Penfolds Magill Estate restaurant headed by chef Scott Higgins outshone the other 10 South Australian kitchens who earned their special star.

Now, marking 12 years as the head chef of Africola, one of 16 restaurants who earned a Bib Gourmand, Welgemoed says the new Michelin guide will put South Australia on the world stage.

“When people come into Australia they sort of filter through Sydney and Melbourne, and then they decide to branch off and go see the other parts of the country,” he said.

“We’ve always had the trickle down. 

“This is one of the very first times in South Australian history that we’ve done something like this for our industry, for ourselves.”

This article was first published by AAP.