After running takeaway joints in Reservoir and Kensington, Jollof Vibe chef-owner Evette Quoibia opens a bigger, casual restaurant for aficionados of the West African rice dish.

Sanka Amadoru

December 30, 2025

African$

Several varieties of jollof – a spiced, tomato-infused rice dish found across much of West Africa – are the focus of the menu at Jollof Vibe. Ask chef and owner Evette Quoibia about the cultural debate between West African cultures called the “Jollof Wars”, and she’ll happily edify you. “Why don’t I just bring all the jollof rice in one place … and let [people] try for themselves?”

Quoibia might have been a diplomat, if not for previously running takeaway-centric establishments in Reservoir and Kensington. They had limited seating, and she decided it was time to open a bigger casual restaurant for jollof aficionados.

Owner and chef Evette Quoibia in her Flemington restaurant, Jollof Vibe.Eddie Jim

The Jollof Wars are about friendly rivalry. The restaurant repertoire of various West African dishes comes, however, from Quoibia’s serial displacement due to armed conflicts in the region. By her 10th birthday, she had learnt to cook for her entire family out of both necessity and interest. After moving to Australia, she started cooking at community events, and people started rushing back for seconds.

“I saw the joy it brought to people,” Quoibia says. Her path was set, so she quit her job in an abattoir to work at a restaurant for the first time. Having opened in October, Jollof Vibe feels comfortable, with batik-adorned tables and unobtrusive Afrobeat tunes setting the mood.

Jollof rice dishes all share a base of tomato, spices, garlic and onions. Close to a dozen traditional regional or improvised variants result from differences in ingredients and technique.

We tried the Liberian version, made with the more attention-demanding jasmine rather than basmati rice used in other dishes. It comes with strips of deeply flavourful beef, fried plantains and a dressed salad. It’s a dish that carries complexity without worrying about subtlety, and it’s glorious.

Liberian jollof rice with beef, fried plantains and a dressed salad.Eddie Jim

Patrons who decide to explore beyond the namesake dish will be rewarded. Communal eating is encouraged, and the fried chicken is easily shareable. The meat is seasoned and paired with a house-made red habanero sauce; ask for the green version if you want to ramp up the heat level.

A hibiscus drink is available if you need to cool off, and also comes as an ice slushie. Its flavour is as deep as its midnight purple hue, with the flower’s natural acidity balanced with sugar and accentuated with hints of cloves, pineapple and mint. It makes a lack of liquor licence seem irrelevant. The drink alone is reason enough for me to return.