A NEW African-themed restaurant, which could be the first of its kind in Oxford, will open its doors once lockdown lifts.

African Heat Restaurant will open in a former NatWest Bank on Cowley Road, and plans to offer favourite dishes from across the continent.

Restaurant founders Mohammed Halilu and Gordon Ampofo said they wanted to recreate the feeling of restaurants from their home countries and to celebrate African cuisine in Oxford.

Mr Halilu, who is originally from Cameroon but has lived in the UK for 15 years, said he wanted to showcase African food alongside other cuisine available on Cowley Road.

He said: "We are bringing something new to Oxford that the city doesn't know about."

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Mr Halilu added: "We just thought that in other cities there are African restaurants where we can reconnect with our heritage, so we wanted somewhere like that in Oxford, somewhere we could showcase traditional African meals, street food, culture and entertainment."

The duo plan to offer traditional food including jollof rice, a West African dumplings called kenkey, and grilled meat and fish.

Mr Halilu added: "The way we do things at restaurants in Africa is different from the way of doing things here. You might sit all night eating, drinking, and chatting. It is about the entertainment, the socialising. You might even get up and dance if you hear a good song."

Before setting out to open the restaurant Mr Halilu had studied social work at Ruskin College.

His business partner, Mr Ampofo, who is from Ghana, had been working for the security firm G4S.

While Mr Ampofo said his partner was the brains of the operation, Mr Halilu said: "I wouldn't be able to make my idea a reality without Gordon."

The two had opened the doors of African Heat earlier in the year ahead of the lockdown, with a launch night on February 22.

Since the lockdown they have been waiting until they can reopen, and have been running a takeaway service for customers.

They have also prepared meals for hospital staff and delivered them to the JR.

thisisoxfordshire:

Mr Halilu delivering food to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mr Halilu worked as a hospital porter when he first arrived in the UK.

He said: "I thought it was important to remember all the support staff behind the scenes at the JR, so we cooked and delivered 80 boxes of jallof rice to them the other day."

The restaurant was given the go ahead for its licence at a city council committee meeting on Monday afternoon.

The conditions of the licence mean that the restaurant will be able to open from noon until 11.30pm each night of the week.

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It had planned to have slightly later opening hours, but discussions with the police led to an earlier closing time to prevent late night noise from waking up nearby residents.

There had been six objections to granting the restaurant a licence, but the committee felt that behind the scenes discussions with police meant that African Heat would be able to open.

Restaurants in the UK are set to reopen at some time during July, if the government's plan of easing the lockdown continues as planned.

See heatafrican.com for details of the restaurant.