Hot Chicks (Nandos)

Member Name: bollinger28

Product:	Nandos
Date:	14/09/07 (1005 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good food, nice ambiance and quick service. No waiting around for the bill.

Disadvantages: If you don't like chicken, the menu is pretty limited. Too spicy for some.

Ever since I first read about Nando's, I'd been dying to try them out. Unfortunately, my nearest outlet was not close enough to make a visit all that practical. I was therefore delighted to learn that Nando's were opening a unit at my local out of town cinema/restaurant complex. Although I didn't quite make the opening night, I managed to get through the doors pretty soon after they first opened.

*** WHAT IS NANDOS AND HOW DOES IT ALL WORK? ***
Nando's is a worldwide fast-food restaurant chain with a Portuguese theme originating from South Africa. However, if I had to sum Nandos up in one brief sentence, I'd describe them as posh Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC for adults. They serve mostly chicken dishes which have been marinated in a spicy Portuguese sauce known as Peri-Peri sauce. Peri-Peri sauce is a firey sauce made up of such ingredients as paprika, angostura bitters, vinegar, birds-eye chillis and garlic - the quantities of which can be manipulated depending on how mild or hot you want it.

The Nando's menu is built almost totally around chicken marinated in different strengths of their very own Peri-Peri sauce. Although, billed as a fast food outlet, Nando's are definitely a lot more upmarket than either KFC or McDonalds. The set up is a little different to most fast food outlets, as it's a sort of cross between fast food and waiter service.

Let me explain that a little more clearly. When you enter one of their outlets, a sign will politely ask you to wait to be seated. You are then shown to a table by a member of staff, who will ask you if you've been to Nando's before. If you reply in the negative, they'll tell you all you need to know about how the whole Nando's experience works. We were seated and greeted within moments of arriving by a very friendly waiter, who clearly explained how the system worked.

Once you've had a good look through the menu at your table, it's time to order your food. At this stage you will need to know your table number. You go up to the counter and order your food and drinks with a member of staff, and then you pay for your meal. Whilst you're queuing at the counter, you can see the chicken dishes being prepared nearby on an open plan griddle. The staff also tend to walk passed you carrying food for other tables, so it's going to give you a good idea of what you're going to get. It's also a good way to make you change your mind a million times! Everytime, a new dish or accompaniment whizzed passed me, I changed my order accordingly....

Next up, you need to collect your cutlery and napkins from a table to the back of the restaurant. You can also help yourself to a choice of several different strength bottles of Nando's own Peri-Peri sauce, to take back to your table. If you've purchased one of the refillable soft drink options at the counter, this is also the place to get your top ups. I must say I really didn't need to add any additional Peri-Peri sauce to my chicken as it was spicy enough without it! I did wish I'd gone for the refillable soft drink option though, as my mouth was on fire halfway through the meal, and I could have done with a top up.

On average, I'd say that the cooked food is then bought to your table within 10 to 15 minutes of ordering.

*** AMBIANCE AND DÉCOR ***
Nando's restaurants are predominantly brown - to my mind they look a little bit retro. There's a lot of very dark wood, modern art and clean, stark lines. I guess they are designed to look a bit like a Portuguese hacienda. This is certainly complimented by the music, which was of an upbeat southern Mediterranean theme. The restaurant is saved from appearing a bit dated in décor with all the hand painted chicken themed quotation signage on the wall above the ordering counter and cooking area. Similarly, all the staff are dressed in black T-shirts with chicken themed quotes emblazoned across them. That sort of detail does a good job of making the place feel more modern and laid back - kind of investing it with a sense of humour that customers can take part in.

There are lots of wooden tables dotted around the room, with larger booths towards the back of the restaurant. Although the chairs you are seated in are all wooden too, they were surprisingly comfortable. A lot more comfy than the plastic offerings of KFC, Burger King or McDonalds, which do not encourage their clientele to linger. All in all, it's a welcoming and laid back ambiance and there is no sense of the franticness you so often get in fast food eateries. No one was pushing you to eat and go, it could be done entirely at your own pace.

*** MENU ***
It has to be said, that if you're not a fan of chicken, then you're eating in the wrong place. The same can be said if you don't like spicy food. Nando's tends to serve chicken and only chicken, with a very small nod towards a steak option and a couple of vegetarian choices. However, if you love chicken as much as I do, you'll be spoiled for choice. I'm not going to list the full menu in my review as that can be found online at www.nandos.co.uk

There are a small selection of starters, but they're more along the lines of nibbles and snacks rather than a good plate of food. You can have some spicy olives or a nut and seed selection, but that's about it. Prices for starters are around the £2.40 level.

However, main courses are where Nando's really come into their element. There are all sorts of different ways you can eat your chicken, with something to tempt everyone. There are chicken burgers or chicken in a wrap. If you prefer your chicken more naked without the bread wrapping, you can have it served in quarter, half or whole chicken portions....or you can just have a plate of wings. If you're in a bigger group there are some very tasty sounding platters to share. Next up you have to decide how brave you're feeling and decide on the degree of spiciness you can cope with. All the chicken is served with Peri-Peri sauce, but the degree of strength to your sauce is your decision. You can be a wuss and go for the least spicy option - lemon and herb (or mango and lime) or move up the scale of hardness and have medium, hot or extra hot. I really should have taken some advice from the serving staff before I ordered my quarter portion the first time I went there. I decided to have a quarter of chicken served with medium strength sauce....and it was very, very spicy....my mouth was on fire. I didn't really get much of an impression of the actual flavour of the Peri-Peri sauce, as the spice from the chillis kind of overwhelmed my palate, and basically blew them away. Next time I will definitely stick to the lemon and herb, as it is sure to be milder, and I hope to be able to appreciate some of the other ingredients rather than just the chillis. My partner, being "well hard", dived straight in with the hot option, and lived to regret it the next morning...no sympathy from me....

There are all sorts of accompaniments that you have alongside your chicken portions. Some of them are included in the meal price, or you can order them separately. I had a quarter portion of medium spiced chicken with garlic bread and coleslaw for £5.50 and was I glad of the coleslaw and bread to cool me down when things got a bit hot with the chicken. I could have had spicy rice (glad I didn't..), corn on the cob, chips or salad. The salads all looked very nice and certainly very fresh. My partner had a half portion of hot spiced chicken served with chips and garlic bread for £8.10. It must be said that the chips were a bit soggy and just not crispy enough for our liking. That aside, they were the only disappointing thing about the food served at Nando's.

All in all, chips aside, the food at Nandos was very, very tasty, and certainly very filling. I certainly found it to be a much healthier and tastier option than other fast food fayre. The chicken was very flavoursome and nicely cooked, and the accompaniments good too. I highly recommend the garlic bread, which was crispy on the outside and nice and soggy in the middle.

I did find my quarter portion of chicken to be a bit on the spindly side, as it was a rather small leg. However, my partner had the half chicken serving and that was a rather meatier breast/leg portion. Nando's claim that all their chickens are fresh rather than frozen. The chickens are butterfly cut and marinated in their famous Peri-Peri sauce for 24 hours. The chickens are then grilled over an open flame, which is a far less calorific method of cooking.

Pricewise, it was certainly very reasonable for the portions offered. I'd say that on average a main meal and drink cost somewhere in the region of £7-£8.

*** SERVICE ***
Everyone was very friendly and welcoming despite the restaurant being quite busy. I was particularly impressed by the guy that seated us, as he took the time and trouble to explain how to order our food / drinks and where the cutlery was situated. It was certainly a big step up from the usual half-hearted slap dash approach you get in most fast food eateries. The longest delay of the evening was queuing up to place our initial food and drink order, but that actually took less than ten minutes. Once our order had been placed, our food arrived in less than ten minutes. Similarly, once we'd emptied our plates, a member of staff cleared them away almost immediately. She asked us if we wanted a dessert or coffee, but we didn't, as we felt full from the chicken. However, if you had room there are a few pastries or desserts to choose from, as well as a full range of ice-creams (with an interesting sounding vanilla with toffee-chilli sauce). You can also have some bottomless low fat frozen yogurt at £2.50 (help yourself to as much as you like as many times as you wish), an ideal way to cool your palate down I guess....

*** DRINKS ***
There's a good but limited selection of drinks. Alcoholic beverages are cider or lager as well as a good range of wines. Soft drinks wise you can have mineral water or one of their bottomless soft drink refills at £1.80 (an ideal option if you've chosen one of the spicier dishes....believe you me...you'll need it!)

*** OTHER ***
Nando's are a worldwide chain (more than 400 units in 30 countries), and they've got over 100 outlets throughout UK, with new ones opening all the time. They take all the major credit cards as well as Switch, but they don't take reservations. Opening hours are generally 12pm to 11.00pm (Sunday to Thursday) and 12pm to 11.30pm (Friday and Saturday).

You can buy bottles of Nando's famous Peri-Peri sauce to take away. Similarly, you can also order your chicken to takeaway as well.

I didn't use the toilet, so I can't comment on their cleanliness. However, the restaurant itself was spotlessly clean, so I would imagine the toilets would follow suit.

I went to the newly opened Chichester outlet, where disabled access would be good as the restaurant is all on one level. There was also plenty of free parking nearby, though it can get harder to find a space at the weekend.

*** RECOMMENDATION ***
Nando's offers good, tasty food at a reasonable price. I'm not so sure it would appeal to younger children, unless they're particular fans of spicy food. However, for adults, it's a great place to get a nice plateful of chicken at a good price, without feeling you need to dress up, and knowing you won't be given the bums rush to eat your food and go. The ambiance there is laid back enough so that no one is going to look askance at you if you decide to forgo the knives and forks and eat your chicken with your fingers. If you're new to Nando's like I was, I suggest you start out with half a chicken marinated in the lemon and herb sauce rather than dive in with the spicier bad boy options. You can always add a bit of their free Peri-Peri sauce to your chicken from the condiments table if it's too mild for your taste-buds.

And one of the nicest things of all for me personally, was foregoing that tedious wait to pay for your meal at the end of the evening. As you've pre-paid for your food, you can leave as quickly or as slowly as you want to, without the hassle of trying to catch the waiter's eye for your bill...

Recommended.

*** CONTACT DETAILS ***
Nando's Chickenland Ltd
1-2 Station Buildings
Uxbridge Rd
London
W5 3NU

Tel: 0208-992-2290 or Nando's freephone hotline at 0800-975-8181

Further information on their outlets and full menu can be found at their website at http://www.nandos.co.uk or email them at enquiries@nandos.co.uk

Summary: Eaterie with good, tasty chicken dishes at reasonable prices