Nando's Review
Eric Borg
Location: 13 - 17, Jackson Square, Potter St, Bishop's Stortford CM23 2XH
Pros Cons
+ Delicious mouth-watering food -Can be expensive
+ Exciting party like atmosphere -Cutlery could have been cleaner
+ Choice of Peri spice on your food -food can be messy
+ Friendly and helpful staff -ordering food could be time consuming
+ Delicious mouth-watering food -Can be expensive
+ Exciting party like atmosphere -Cutlery could have been cleaner
+ Choice of Peri spice on your food -food can be messy
+ Friendly and helpful staff -ordering food could be time consuming
Overall Rating:★★★★★★★
Greetings! And well wishes to readers of today’s food review. Recently, I had taken the time to visit this instalments restaurant of choice, Nando’s!
Nando’s is a south African fast casual restaurant chain specialising in delectable dishes of flame grilled chicken with their own unique peri-peri style twist. Despite being south African the restaurant associates itself with Portuguese culture (style of cooking, logo, and name) and could be considered as a restaurant celebrating Afro-Portuguese culture. You can either eat in or order takeaway via Deliveroo, Just eat or Uber eats.
Upon first stepping inside the restaurant, you get a blast of spicy aromas with a kaleidoscopic burst of vibrant colour integrated in the restaurants design. Waiting at the door, myself and my food co-taster were seated shortly after entering. The building and seating area has a nice warmth to it with a party like feel. The only issue I had was the way the seating was designed. I felt like I was seated too close to strangers and the tables were too small, this created a claustrophobic feel but there was still a sense of space when navigating the restaurant itself. Where I was seated was on a long bench everyone on my side shared while the people opposite would be seated on an individual chair. Personally, I would have preferred some division in the bench to reduce that claustrophobic feel.
To order you can either use the tills at the front (not preferable) or use the app/website. Firstly, you must scan a QR code marked on the table to gain access to the location specific menu and ordering. From there you can order, or can you? In our experience we could not order at first because there was no mobile data access to use the online menu and ordering, this meant we had to use the Nando’s free Wi-Fi which took ages to connect but thankfully was free. That was a bit disappointing, but we eventually got onto the menu and ordered. The online menu could be a problem for some as the amount of time we spent getting onto the app allowed us to annoyingly endure witnessing people receiving food before us even though they came in the restaurant after us! Payment is preferred by using online banking rather than using cash so make sure to have a fully charged phone and a QR code scanner app!
Nando’s is a south African fast casual restaurant chain specialising in delectable dishes of flame grilled chicken with their own unique peri-peri style twist. Despite being south African the restaurant associates itself with Portuguese culture (style of cooking, logo, and name) and could be considered as a restaurant celebrating Afro-Portuguese culture. You can either eat in or order takeaway via Deliveroo, Just eat or Uber eats.
Upon first stepping inside the restaurant, you get a blast of spicy aromas with a kaleidoscopic burst of vibrant colour integrated in the restaurants design. Waiting at the door, myself and my food co-taster were seated shortly after entering. The building and seating area has a nice warmth to it with a party like feel. The only issue I had was the way the seating was designed. I felt like I was seated too close to strangers and the tables were too small, this created a claustrophobic feel but there was still a sense of space when navigating the restaurant itself. Where I was seated was on a long bench everyone on my side shared while the people opposite would be seated on an individual chair. Personally, I would have preferred some division in the bench to reduce that claustrophobic feel.
To order you can either use the tills at the front (not preferable) or use the app/website. Firstly, you must scan a QR code marked on the table to gain access to the location specific menu and ordering. From there you can order, or can you? In our experience we could not order at first because there was no mobile data access to use the online menu and ordering, this meant we had to use the Nando’s free Wi-Fi which took ages to connect but thankfully was free. That was a bit disappointing, but we eventually got onto the menu and ordered. The online menu could be a problem for some as the amount of time we spent getting onto the app allowed us to annoyingly endure witnessing people receiving food before us even though they came in the restaurant after us! Payment is preferred by using online banking rather than using cash so make sure to have a fully charged phone and a QR code scanner app!
Our cutlery did not come to us like more finer dining restaurants, so we had to get up and grab our cutlery, napkins, sauces and fill up our glasses with whatever drink we had ordered. The only complaint I had about this was the cleanliness of this area. Firstly, the extra sauces were very messy and there were splatters of the sauces near the wall and table of this area. Furthermore, the cutlery looked like it had been washed mindlessly with only a quick dash under the tap and that was classified as “clean” I was extremely disappointed in the many marks and strips of food and dirt present on the cutlery from previous uses and had to go searching to find a clean few pieces. Thankfully, I never needed to use the cutlery in the end but for the people who did, I would certainly be put off my food if I were using it when it was that mucky!
A unique part of Nando’s that makes it stand out from other restaurant chains is its inclusion of its signature Peri-peri chillies grown in south Africa. At the restaurant you can choose what level of spice or amount of Peri-peri chilli sauce you would like on your food. This is integrated further into the menu than just sauce as you can get Peri-peri salt too. The restaurant offers a choice of heat levels from “plain…ish” to “Extra hot” there are lemon and herb and garlic variants of the sauce also available if you go for the “medium” option. Finally, the spice does not stop at Nando’s as they sell all their sauces plus the salt in shopping stores too to use in your own recipes!
The menu has a fitting selection of items. This includes children’s meals, meal deals, burgers, sides, drinks, starters, and deserts. Thankfully, everyone is considered in the menu and vegans and vegetarians can jump for joy as their own plant-based menu is available too!
We had ordered a starter of five haloumi sticks and sweet chilli jam, these arrived swiftly which was impressive for peak lunchtime hours on Saturday. The haloumi was grilled to perfection and was slightly rubbery in terms of texture, but the pinnacle of the starter was dipping the sticks of halloumi into the sticky and sweet chilli jam. Each bite was mouth wateringly good, and I craved more even after it was all gone!
For the main meal I had ordered was the grilled chicken burger with extra haloumi, of course. I had also ordered the peri chips and corn on the cob as my sides. I also opted in for medium spice as I was far too afraid of the dangers of treading into hot and extra hot Peri-peri sauce territory. When I received my main the portion size was good enough but not terrible or amazing. Much of my plate was taken up by a flurry of chips and peri salt and in the far corner of my plate was a lonely burger that had a large amount of ingredients inside it, but the overall burger size could have been bigger. The corn was the most pleasant surprise, being sizeable and coming with a complimentary greasy square of butter to spread on it. The chips were a mild heat with a nice crisp crunch to them and the abundance on my plate was very much welcome as they tasted so nice. As did the corn too, the sides were both piping hot and very flavoursome. Finally, the burger. It was crunchy and sweet and not one bite was unpleasant. Thankfully, medium heat was exactly right for me, and I did not start sweating from a mouth on fire if I had chosen hot or extra hot. The chicken was not gritty, chewy, or stringy, it was a perfect texture. My only complaint was the Portuguese roll, it was too small! Each time I toom a bite the burger fell apart and started to ooze the juices of the chicken all over my hands and it got worse when the sauce started dripping out too! In the end I had to wrap a napkin around the burger to consume it without an explosion going on in my hands! My co-taster ordered a Fino Pita and regular chips, they informed me it was very tasty and a lot easier to eat too because the ingredients were all tucked inside the pita pouch. For dessert it was Vanilla Gelato and the Choc-A-Lot cake. The ice cream was…vanilla ice cream, nothing more to say. The cake was richly chocolatey and was soft in texture another success from Nando’s.
A unique part of Nando’s that makes it stand out from other restaurant chains is its inclusion of its signature Peri-peri chillies grown in south Africa. At the restaurant you can choose what level of spice or amount of Peri-peri chilli sauce you would like on your food. This is integrated further into the menu than just sauce as you can get Peri-peri salt too. The restaurant offers a choice of heat levels from “plain…ish” to “Extra hot” there are lemon and herb and garlic variants of the sauce also available if you go for the “medium” option. Finally, the spice does not stop at Nando’s as they sell all their sauces plus the salt in shopping stores too to use in your own recipes!
The menu has a fitting selection of items. This includes children’s meals, meal deals, burgers, sides, drinks, starters, and deserts. Thankfully, everyone is considered in the menu and vegans and vegetarians can jump for joy as their own plant-based menu is available too!
We had ordered a starter of five haloumi sticks and sweet chilli jam, these arrived swiftly which was impressive for peak lunchtime hours on Saturday. The haloumi was grilled to perfection and was slightly rubbery in terms of texture, but the pinnacle of the starter was dipping the sticks of halloumi into the sticky and sweet chilli jam. Each bite was mouth wateringly good, and I craved more even after it was all gone!
For the main meal I had ordered was the grilled chicken burger with extra haloumi, of course. I had also ordered the peri chips and corn on the cob as my sides. I also opted in for medium spice as I was far too afraid of the dangers of treading into hot and extra hot Peri-peri sauce territory. When I received my main the portion size was good enough but not terrible or amazing. Much of my plate was taken up by a flurry of chips and peri salt and in the far corner of my plate was a lonely burger that had a large amount of ingredients inside it, but the overall burger size could have been bigger. The corn was the most pleasant surprise, being sizeable and coming with a complimentary greasy square of butter to spread on it. The chips were a mild heat with a nice crisp crunch to them and the abundance on my plate was very much welcome as they tasted so nice. As did the corn too, the sides were both piping hot and very flavoursome. Finally, the burger. It was crunchy and sweet and not one bite was unpleasant. Thankfully, medium heat was exactly right for me, and I did not start sweating from a mouth on fire if I had chosen hot or extra hot. The chicken was not gritty, chewy, or stringy, it was a perfect texture. My only complaint was the Portuguese roll, it was too small! Each time I toom a bite the burger fell apart and started to ooze the juices of the chicken all over my hands and it got worse when the sauce started dripping out too! In the end I had to wrap a napkin around the burger to consume it without an explosion going on in my hands! My co-taster ordered a Fino Pita and regular chips, they informed me it was very tasty and a lot easier to eat too because the ingredients were all tucked inside the pita pouch. For dessert it was Vanilla Gelato and the Choc-A-Lot cake. The ice cream was…vanilla ice cream, nothing more to say. The cake was richly chocolatey and was soft in texture another success from Nando’s.
The closing price was £46.10, I consider the value for money to be adequate, it is a little on the expensive side especially for what was just a plate of chips with a small side of a chicken burger. On the contrary, the overall atmosphere was superb and warm plus the food was of excellent quality, besides the small bun for the burger. My only real problem was that cutlery, just cannot get over how dirty it was, and that app can be a prolonged process for those who are not as technologically capable. The price was fine but could have been cheaper.
Following suggestions since my last food review the Yum yum score will now be based on a scale of one through ten, instead of five. This is to ensure my reviews can come across as accurate and informative as possible ensuring you know exactly where the best places are to eat!
Therefore, I conclude my Nando’s review.
Yum-yum score 7/10
Following suggestions since my last food review the Yum yum score will now be based on a scale of one through ten, instead of five. This is to ensure my reviews can come across as accurate and informative as possible ensuring you know exactly where the best places are to eat!
Therefore, I conclude my Nando’s review.
Yum-yum score 7/10