Eat
TheAfrican Calabash.
Three-hour Sierra Leone jollof. Plantain is the go-to.
Location
What people get wrong
143 Nicholson. House lists Monday from 3pm. AGFG prints Monday closed. West African jollof, not injera. Little Africa the West Melbourne restaurant is a different suburb. We last walked this on 2026-09-20. Hours move with the week. Checking the shopfront keeps the night easy.
What is The African Calabash known for?
Calabash is known as Nicholson's West African sit-down: Colin Walcott-Taylor's family room at 143, Sierra Leone jollof and egusi, the table this mall uses when it wants rice and stew instead of sour bread.
You get off at Footscray station and you walk the pedestrian stretch of Nicholson. Grocers. Remittance desks. Braid shops. Taste of Ethiopia is 121 if it is not Monday. You keep walking until the numbers hit 143. The fascia is West African. You sit. This is not a tasting counter and it is not a food-court tray. Valent called it a friendly family restaurant a year after they opened. That is still the job. Mum Virginia and sister Maggie are in the room. Colin came out of banking and risk assessment in Australia and into the pot. House regulars keep mentioning music and banter from him and the team. You came to sit down and leave heavier than you arrived.
April 2024, Dani Valent ate here for Good Food and treated the fried plantain like a private conversation. The Good Food Guide later scored the room 13/20: soulful, supremely comforting, family-run. July 2025 she still put jollof with meat on the Footscray crawl, on this pedestrianised stretch she also called Little Africa. That nickname is a council habit. Valent already said the useful sentence: Sierra Leone and Ethiopia sit about 6000 kilometres apart. You do not mash those kitchens because the mall is the same colour on a map. This door is rice, fufu, stew.
Phone 0434 265 555. Site theafricancalabash.com. Email colin@theafricancalabash.com if the group is larger than a two-top. Vegetarian plates exist. Say spice. House copy says jollof that hits and fish that slaps. Taste it yourself.
What should you order at The African Calabash?
You should order fried plantain first if you wanted Valent's go-to, then commit to rice or soup so the table actually eats.
You sit. You say heat. They tone the chilli down for the room; the house hot sauce still rang her ears and sent her to the ginger tonic they make in-house. Do not perform toughness. Ask. The plantain arrives hot, golden, starchy, sweet enough that she did not want to share. Then the jollof: long-grain rice stained red with tomato and capsicum, three hours in the pot so the bottom burns a little and the smoke seasons what they scoop from the top. That is the Sierra Leone version, not a weeknight rice special. Whole tilapia if you wanted her sitting: paprika, cumin, cinnamon, skin in shards. Fried or grilled, the house still sells both. Jollof with meat or chicken if that was the protein. The July 2025 crawl photographed the meat plate. Either way you came for the pot, not a side of rice under something else.
Egusi if soup was the plot. Pumpkin seeds cooked with curry spice into a thick porridge, red palm oil, stewed beef studded through. Fufu here is pounded yam, a mild ball you pull apart and dip. House also sells pounded yam as its own line. Suya if grill was the snack: lamb, West African spice, open flame. Acheke with fish if cassava couscous was on; regulars still name that plate. Ogbono and moi moi if the board still had them. Chicken drumettes with the same hot sauce if you wanted something you can eat with your hands. Ginger tonic if the sauce already won.
Do not order injera and perform surprise. Ras Dashen and Cafe Lalibela are that bread. Abol Africa is 221 Barkly if the table was vegan Ethiopian first. Queen of Sheba is 224, closed Wednesday, Ethiopian and Sudanese on one menu. Addis Abeba is 220. Addis Cafe is 226 for beans on a weekday. This kitchen is rice, fufu and stew. Name the country before you sit.
Hours, payment and queues at The African Calabash
Quoted hours from the house site and contact page: Monday to Friday 3pm to 10pm, Saturday 12pm to 10pm, Sunday 3pm to 10pm. Call 0434 265 555. Last checked 2026-09-20. Saturday from noon is the extra sitting weekdays do not do.
AGFG currently prints Monday closed. A leftover Uber card still files this door as El Shaddai and shrinks delivery. Delivery is not dine-in. The house page is the clock you cite. Walk-in for two. Book by phone if the group is larger than the room looks. AGFG lists cards and about 32 seats. Cash still works on this mall. Holidays shuffle the strip.
Queen of Sheba is closed Wednesday. Taste of Ethiopia is closed Monday. A plan that needed injera and jollof on the same night still has to check two clocks.
How do you get to The African Calabash in Footscray?
You get to The African Calabash by getting off at Footscray station and walking Nicholson to 143, on the pedestrian mall, not Hopkins and not Irving.
Caminito La Boca is 205-207 further north, Argentine asado, closed Monday and Tuesday. The painted corner and the flag are that lock. You can eat jollof then walk for empanadas if both clocks agree. You should still name the kitchen. After dark, leave via Barkly or Hopkins. The mall is the block people skip once the shutters start.
Albert Street if you drove for the plaza. Irving deck is the market. Do not park Paisley for a night sitting. If a friend said meet at Little Africa, ask which suburb. If they said Footscray jollof on Nicholson, this is the pin.
What do people mix up about The African Calabash?
They treat 143 as another injera room, or they follow a Little Africa pin to West Melbourne.
- 143 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011 only. Phone 0434 265 555.
- Sierra Leone jollof, egusi, fufu. Not Ethiopian injera.
- Little Africa the West Melbourne restaurant is a different suburb. Nicholson mall is a nickname, not that booking.
- Not Addis Abeba at 220, not Queen of Sheba at 224, not Caminito at 205-207.
- House: Mon-Fri 3pm-10pm, Sat 12pm-10pm, Sun 3pm-10pm. AGFG still prints Monday closed.
Questions people ask next
- Is The African Calabash open on Monday?
- The house site and contact page list Monday 3pm-10pm. AGFG currently prints Monday closed. Call 0434 265 555 before you walk for a Monday sitting.
- Do you need a booking at The African Calabash?
- Two people can walk in. Call 0434 265 555 if the group is larger than a two-top, or email colin@theafricancalabash.com. Saturday from noon is the extra sitting.
- What is fufu at The African Calabash?
- Here it is pounded yam: a mild starch ball you pull apart and dip into egusi. It is not injera. Ask if you wanted the soup with pounded yam as a separate line.
- Is there a vegetarian plate at The African Calabash?
- Yes. The house site flags vegetarian options and AGFG ticks vegan and vegetarian. Say so when you order. Plantain still works as the share. Spice is a conversation.
Where we checked
More in Eat
Addis Abeba
Lime-green injera on Nicholson. The hours widget is a rumour.
220 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Queen of Sheba
Molokhia and injera. Closed Wednesday.
224 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Caminito La Boca
Asado on Nicholson. Chimichurri first.
205-207 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011