Nandos!!!

Fin

Did a quick search and surprised to find little or no comment on this veritable Stroud Green institution.

I'm a recent convert to the delights of spicy Portuguese-inspired chicken and I've discovered Nandos has near cult status amongst it's followers. From the South African I sit next to at work who has Nandos at least once a week to the banker I met in Brussels raving about how much he missed Nandos from his time in London, there seem to be hard core Nandos fans everywhere once the topic's raised.

We can be proud of our SG branch, by my recckoning it's been there at least 12 years, a trail blazer for those now appearing in areas like Upper Street and Spitalfields. It's also a real melting pot, all walks of life, race and nationality seemed to be in there when I popped in last night. Nandos is real slice (or leg?) of London I reckon.

Arkady

I’m afraid I regard Nandos as a crass pastiche of Mexican food, and the building is an eyesore that should never have received planning permission.
Arky

miss annie

How do I love thee Nandos, let me count the ways.

I'm a recent convert too, despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of very spicy food. Classic lemon & herb half chicken, chips and sweetcorn is a to. Takeaway or eat in is equally appealing. I went to a real fancy one in town the other day.

Love the fact that they run a loyalty card scheme too.

JungleFaceJake

All the chicken smells faintly of Sadness.

And I heard that they are breeding large chickens that they use as carriers, that have up to 3 chicken foetuses grafted onto their backs. So they can grow 3 chickens and feed just one, and they utilise the 'Freedom food' standard by keeping 4 chickens in a space that is supposed to be only good reserved for 1.

And their piri piri sauce makes you sterile..

And the lack of any atmosphere will eventually give you alzheimer's.

These are cold hard facts people.

It's Chicken Cottage with a fucking Sombrero on.

krappyrubsnif

I like Nando, unashamedly. Not sure where the chicken comes from, but the cooking is dead straight forward. Though I would never go there without kids in tow...those days are numnbered.

i once went to Malawi and the first thing I saw when I got out of the bus in downtown Lilongwe was a Nandos. I felt quite at home. It's not Mexican - it originates in South Africa / Portuguese speaking Mozambique

miss annie

Well, given that I also eat KFC I clearly have few morals when it comes to animal welfare. I did find this online, not sure of the veracity and don't know how to do links. http://lovebritishfood.co.uk/british-food/catering-watch/nando's/

Most of the info on the net is from individuals doing the usual scaremongering that occurs when anyone says the word chicken without prefacing it with the words organic, free range, Waitrose or Hugh Fearnley flipping Whittingstall. There doesn't seem to be anything from animal welfare organisations complaining about Nandos.

I know it's not very North London to like things like Nandos and KFC but hey ho.

Ali

It is a chain that originated in SA. It was named after Nandie , the son of Fernando Duarte, a Portugese national living in South Africa who started it all. Strange after what JFJ said about Chicken Cottage Fernando and a friend bought a restaurant called Chickenland in Rosetteville and changed it into Nandos. So what could be done with the SGR Chicken Cottage that could be turned into a world brand ? The building was there along time before Nandos. It used to be a real fighting Irish pub! Busby could probably tells us what was there before it got built. They do some quite amusing ads down under http://www.nandosadvertising.com.au/nandos-ad-tv.php

ActionVerb

With regard to KFC, they have upped their standards with regard to sourcing produce.

I know for a fact (I suppose that depends on how truthful their information packages are) that the fillets & chicken burger pieces are taken from one piece of chicken breast and there is no 're-formation' of meat. I can't remember how they deal with popcorn chicken. It's quite obviously not free range though.

I'm very partial to the odd Zinger Tower burger about once a month or so, and have gone through many variations of their twister wrap, having lived within throw's distance from KFC while at uni years back.

Oh and I've never been to Nando's, Finsbury Park or otherwise. Not sure why.

krappyrubsnif

The pub that used to be Nandos was a hellhole. Did anyone ever use the whelk stall that used to be under the canopy there. It was the longest-running whelk stall in London for a while, but Nando's closed it down. Boo!

JungleFaceJake

I don't really care.

I fucking hate chickens.. They're rubbish.

But it really does smell bad in there...

But I hate Nandos and Hippies... and its just funny to hear the double/treble/quadrouple standards of the 'How Green' brigade.

Oh bad tesco, you're not doing your bit for mother earth.

Oh Lovely Nandos, I take my 10000000% non carbon neutral kids there.

I love Mass produced chicken frozen in Brazil, and flown over here.. It tastes so nice and in no way Hypocritical...

We can get them to box up any leftovers and we can take them home in our hessian bag...

I LOVE N4

miss annie

Nandos and whelks are not compatible! At all.

Is Tubby Isaacs not the longest running purveyors of whelks and the like? I was born in Whitechapel and we used to get all kinds of rubbery sea critters from there. My gran told me that it had been there since 1920.

miss annie

@JFJ
I don't have kids, carbon neutral or otherwise. I do have a hessian bag though. And I don't like chickens either, except for grilled or covered in delicious KFC coating.

JungleFaceJake

@ Miss Annie

good to hear... You can come to the party then

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staplejack

The Whelk stall is sadly missed..

Tallboy

Misscara has a point. The food is ok but It is very expensive for what you get. I've discovered that if you just buy a bottle of Nando's Piri Piri sauce and cover that over your home cooked dinner then you get the same taste. Even cauliflower is delicious if you cover it with enough Piri Piri sauce.

graeme

You want to go into Tesco on a Sunday 4.45pm just before closing when it is tipping it down with rain outside and they need to get shot of their ready-roaster chickens. £2 a pop!

rainbow_carnage

We don't eat chicken, but we do get their veggie burgers once in a while. They're way overpriced, but pretty tasty, especially if you get them with pineapple. No one else on SGR does veggie burgers. The inside is a bit depressing, so we always get takeaway. Check your order before you leave the building. Half of the time they'll forget something.

Jenowl

Nando's uses the same surfaces and utensils for cooking their veggie burgers and meat products. This has put me off - I liked the veg burgers but now I know they are covered in meaty stuff since observing the kitchen while waiting for a takeaway.

I like the 'posh' mushy peas in Nando's. I like any mushy peas really. Any peas, in fact.

rainbow_carnage

Unless you go to a veggie restaurant, chances are your veggie dishes will be cooked alongside meaty stuff. That's just the reality of the food industry. I can live with that. Nandos staff seem to be cleaning the grills all the time. That's a positive sign.

Jenowl

Sadly, veggie restaurants are few and far between. Vanilla Black near Chancery Lane is the best one I have ever been to. I wish there were more in north London but I suppose there aren't enough vegetarians to keep them going.

ADGS

"No one else on SGR does veggie burgers"? What about the WLM and the usual Weth deal on a burger and a beverage?

checkski

"Sadly, veggie restaurants are few and far between."

Actually we have one in SGR, Jenowl - but you probably already know the Jai Krishna. It gets loads of mentions here, and most agree it's very good value.

Jenowl

Yep I love Jai Krishna! Except the bitter vegetable curry.

I just wish there were more great veg restaurants around. What I would really like is a good Sunday lunch option in pubs. I am vegetarian and would like to eat the Sunday lunch vegetables and (veggie) roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding...with maybe a nut roast or mushroom wellington and veg gravy. Instead the options are always things like risotto, pasta bake or goat's cheese tart.

miss annie

My friend's dad set up Food for Thought in Neal St. He said that the reason there are so few vegetarian restaurants is that people generally expect vegetarian food to be really cheap so won't pay the money that you need to take to run a business.

If you want the best quality, well sourced vegetarian ingredients - organic, local and all that old jazz, you will end up paying the same price as meat based food.

In most restaurants veggie burgers are made up from the cooked vegetables that are left over at the end of each day.

JungleFaceJake

Wowee

SG.org strikes again..

miss annie

Well I'm surprised that people got away with mentioning Tesco chickens! The SG chicken welfare society are usually straight onto that sort of talk.

JungleFaceJake

I still hate chickens.

And Hippies.

and Vegie burgers

dorothy

I miss the whelk stall too. I used to go there with my dad and then into the rough pub. We always felt comfortable there, unlike Nandos.

I've been boycotting it for a while because of the poor service. Once other people were seated before us even though we'd been waiting ages. I think because we had a lot of whining kids in tow, when we pointed it out, they said it was because we hadn't lined up properly, other times they've forgotten about my take away, even though I know it's there, and then get it cold with no apology, yes with bits missing. Staff don't seem to give a shit. Kids I know love it though, because they can go up and get lots of their own stuff; that's just tough, now if I have kids staying with me I go to Monkey Nuts in Crouch End. At least you can get a decent glass of wine there. I agree the building is an eyesore and I can also smell that bloody chicken from my back garden in the summer.

It's been looking quiet recently too, I'm hoping it'll go.

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JungleFaceJake

Ha... You said Meaty Residue...