Nando's

Hey Everyone,

So believe it or not, I've never had Nando's in my life until recently! This blog is blogging 2 different Nando's that I recently went to.

I was in Surrey and met up with a good buddy for some dinner and thought hey, why not try some Nando's since I haven't tried it yet and heard it was pretty good.

I knew nothing about Nando’s before this except that they specialize in chicken. I found out that it’s a place where you order at the counter and pay first, and then they bring the food to your table when it’s ready. Because of this setup, you have to prepay tip for the meal. My buddy told me their sandwiches are pretty good too, but since this was my first time here, I wanted to give their chicken a try since it should be their specialty.

I had the ¼ Chicken (Leg + Thigh) ($7.20) plus 1 Regular Side $9.85

The price in the brackets means the price it would have cost without the side. 

My buddy got the same thing I did except with a spicier heat level. The "PERi-ometer" has 5 different levels of spice level for the chicken. The least spiciest is Plain...ish so I picked that one since I don't really like spicy food. The description of Plain...ish is "Marinated in PERi-PERi but grilled with no added spice. As mild as we go." This literally had no spice to it, which was just fine with me. The flavour reminded me so much of the chicken wings I had when I was at Hard Rock Punta Cana several months ago! The chicken was flavourful even with Plain...ish, and it was juicy enough without being overly oily. The meat was very tender grilled just right! The size of the quarter chicken was not really enough for a full meal though, but it was good for a snack. 

The side I chose was PERi-PERi Fries ($3.50), which wasn't a worthy choice as it was just fries with seasoning on it, not worth the price of the side I'd say. It was not bad, but not something I'd pay that much for. 

They had the special Coke machine with over 100 flavours, the same kind that Five Guys has, so if you order a drink $2.60(which does not come with your chicken) then you get a cup to fill with whatever drink you want from that machine. 

The second time I went, the next day, was to the Burnaby location near Bubble World by Kingsway and Wilson Ave. 

This Nando's was decorated much nicer than the Surrey location!

 Cool seating at the front waiting area.

 Cool wall art.

 Stylish lighting fixtures.

 Artwork on a nice wood panel wall.

Brick wall by the booths.

I came to this Nando's with 3 of my close buddies at night near closing time.

Since I know how big the 1/4 chicken is, this time I ordered a 1/2 chicken ($10.50) with one side $13.00. The side I got this time was the Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($3.50). 

I also elected to go with one level up from Plain...ish to Lemon & Herb, which has a mere hint of heat but a tidal wave of flavour. This turned out to be a great choice as the lemon and herb gave the chicken some excellent flavour to compliment the original flavour. The chicken was again, absolutely delicious! I contemplated getting a whole chicken this time, but my buddy was saying it would be way too much to finish, but after eating the half chicken, I think I can handle a whole chicken next time!

The Garlic Mashed Potatoes was a MUCH better choice for a side than the PERi-PERi fries! 

The flavour of the garlic mashed potatoes was very delicious! It had a lot of stuff mixed into the mashed potatoes too which made it less boring than regular mashed potatoes. It wasn't dry, and I would much rather prefer this over fries as the side choice. 

The service was ok, as it's kind of hard to comment on it when you order from the counter. They bring the food to you and bring you water. Occasionally they come around to refill water and that's pretty much it. They're friendly, so not much to complain about.

Overall I had a great first and second experience at Nando's and I can't believe I didn't try it sooner! I highly recommend Nando's to anyone that hasn't tried it yet and loves chicken!

Food:
5/5

Service:
3/5

Price:
$-$$

Overall:
4/5

Thanks for reading everyone, munch on!
- Phil