Acclaimed Durham restaurant relocating to downtown + new spot in American Tobacco
One of the Triangle’s best new restaurants of the last few years is on the move.
Zweli’s Kitchen, which opened in Durham in 2018 as possibly the country’s first Zimbabwean restaurant, has closed its original location off of Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard and is preparing a major move to Brightleaf Square.
Restaurant co-owners, married couple Leonardo and Zweli Williams, announced the closing and move on social media over the weekend, closing the original spot in Oak Creek Crossing after a five year run.
In a phone interview, Leonardo Williams said the restaurant was offered a space in the redeveloping Brightleaf District.
“We will be building on an expanding Zweli’s Kitchen in a much more beautiful location,” Williams said. “We’re relocating because we want to be closer to the customer base that supports us.”
Durham’s historic Brightleaf Square has signed a number of restaurant projects in the last few months, including Niko from Giorgios Bakatsias and a new location of Fonda Lupita.
The relocated Zweli’s Kitchen will move into one half of the giant space that was formerly Satisfaction, which closed in 2018. Williams said the new space offers something Oak Crossing never could — foot traffic.
“We want curious walkers to stumble upon Zweli’s Kitchen and be blown away by what we offer,” Williams said. “At Oak Creek, we could only have intentional customers who came to see is. And we want to be closer to the heart of Durham.”
The menu, created and cooked by Zweli Williams, which bring many of the familiar dishes, like oxtail and Peri Peri chicken. A new curried goat will be added, as well as a new fried chicken, Williams said, with African herbs and spices.
The new Zweli’s Kitchen will have a bit of a tweaked format, where diners can order entrees and get unlimited side dishes. There’s also a full bar, with spirts, wine and beer.
Williams said Zweli’s Kitchen will aim reopen in its new space by August.
Zweli’s Ekhaya
In the meantime, Zweli and Leonardo Williams will open their latest project, one of the Triangle’s most anticipated restaurants to come in 2023.
In Durham’s American Tobacco Campus, the couple will open Zweli’s Ekhaya, a new small plates restaurant inspired by Bantu dishes.
“Basically we’re elevating Bantu culture and modernizing tribal dishes,” Williams said. “Half of it is modernizing traditional tribal dishes and the other half is African street food.”
Ekhaya will be a very different kind of dining experience for those familiar with Zweli’s Kitchen, Williams said.
“Zweli’s Kitchen is a family style restaurant, it encourages community eating and conversation,” he said. “(Ekhaya) is an opportunity for Zweli and I to put on display the type of restaurant experience we expect when we go out to dinner. It presents our personalities in a more mature way. It’s more of an adult experience, a date night restaurant.”
Williams said the new menu will feature an option to throw caution to the wind and order a 10 course meal created and cooked on the spot by Zweli. The experience is similar to an omakase meal in a sushi restaurant, Williams said, where the dinner is entirely in the hands of the chef.
Ekhaya will begin its soft opening this weekend, selling tickets for a eight-course meal Saturday and Sunday. Williams expects the restaurant to open to the public next week.
