Food truck fave opens new restaurant, with secret spice mix to end Sydney’s ‘Jollof Wars’
This food truck turned restaurant is bringing rival African cuisines together to unite people over the rich, smoky and deeply satisfying joy of jollof.
Almost every country has its own variation. Nigerian jollof is prized for its smoky flavour, traditionally cooked over an open flame, where the rice is left to catch and char at the bottom. Ghanaian jollof tends to be more aromatic, while Salone jollof (from Sierra Leone) is often served with a meat or vegetable stew on the side. Each has its own spice mix and cooking method.
At Jollof Junction, Koroma has created a version that borrows from all the main styles. “Our aim is to put an end to the Jollof Wars,” he says. “It’s called Jollof Junction because this is the junction where all the spices meet.”
Koroma arrived in Australia in 2005, seeking refuge from the aftermath of civil war in Sierra Leone. Good jollof was hard to find in Sydney back then, he says, and not many people were cooking it with passion or love.
“You need to pour your whole heart in it,” says Koroma.
In 2024, he and his wife Sonia Sobonie set out to change that, opening a food truck outside the Gas to Connect petrol station in Guildford West. There, Koroma and son Noah served hearty plates of jollof alongside ogbono, a Nigerian soup made from ground wild mango seeds, and acheke, an Ivorian-style cassava cous cous, to a small make-shift patio of tables and chairs.
