Southeast London takeaway hen and chips
Nando’s is a nationwide establishment and unsurprisingly so. This reputation isn’t due solely to their ubiquity – its staple hen dishes may be consumed by virtually anybody it doesn’t matter what their religiously mandated dietary necessities are – ideally suited for the group outings we nonetheless can’t actually have. Nando’s is cheap, however their eating places actually don’t really feel low-cost with their individually styled interiors.
Nando’s broad attraction infamously turned the topic of an mockingly self-knowing, virtually self-perpetuating meme (you understand the one I imply). It was steeped within the language of laddish redtop tradition that was so tiresome it turned dated and dank whereas nonetheless new and viral.
I final ate at Nando’s round a decade in the past, earlier than I began this web site. That lengthy interregnum wasn’t as a result of I’ve something towards the inescapable hen chain, however because of the easy undeniable fact that I at all times had different, extra attention-grabbing eating places to go to – till now.
With lockdown, I’ve fewer respites from the amateurish tedium of my very own cooking. It was this, mixed with the necessity to run errands for an unwell eating companion, that led me to pucker up for a cheeky Nando’s for the primary time in years. On the identical time, the existence of a notable competitor within the type of Roosters Piri Piri, a franchised chain with branches in London in addition to farther afield, piqued my curiosity.
There’s just one factor for it – a takeaway piri piri chicken-and-chips comparability.
Further sizzling piri piri hen from Nando’s and Roosters Piri Piri
Given that the majority hen within the UK tends to be a timidly tasteless meat, one solution to make it gratifying is to baste and slather it in sizzling sauce. Not for sadomasochistic Scoville-swilling functions, however for the comely mixture of ticklish or even perhaps bracing warmth twinned with citrus- and pepper-derived flavour.
The majority of my Nando’s 700g chook was breast that skirted dangerously near being bone dry. There wasn’t sufficient thigh meat, the perfect a part of the hen, whereas the ‘Further Scorching’ sauce/marinade had a passing citrusy brightness and about as a lot spicy warmth as a bottle of ketchup.
Roosters’ 795g hen was solely considerably much less dry than Nando’s, with a wee bit extra thigh meat and pores and skin to its identify. There was additionally a contact extra citrusy brightness in its sauce, however the actual attraction was a better stage of spicy warmth. Though hardly deserving of Roosters’ ‘Further Scorching’ billing, it packed roughly Tabasco-like ranges of warmth. Though that’s nonetheless solely mildly-to-moderately spicy in my books – and even then principally concentrated in a puddle of extant sauce pooled on the backside of the takeaway container – it was nonetheless the prime attraction right here.
Curiously, a separate serving to of wings proved to eminently superior. Puffy pores and skin glazed with a tingly heat tore away to disclose succulent meat.
Issues didn’t precisely divebomb again all the way down to Earth, however whereas the breast stripes have been simply on the suitable aspect of moist, the warmth and flavour ranges barely nudged above the extent of stale tomato paste.
Nando’s wings, whereas succulent in their very own proper, didn’t have the identical toothsome mouthfeel as Roosters’ wings. What they did have was a bristling warmth, which was as stunning because it was lip puckering.
Nando’s ‘butterflied’ hen breast is only a crafty weasel phrase for a little bit of meat sliced virtually (however not completely) down the center. The shrunken, wrinkled pores and skin, reasonably moist meat and virtually lack of spicy warmth would make this little bit of flap a very good prop for an actor taking part in a cannibal sampling an aged sufferer.
Very like the corresponding segments from each entire chickens, Nando’s thighs have been so shrunken – particularly in comparison with the voluminous breasts – that I’m beginning to suspect that chickens from meals service corporations are so sedentary that it results in stunted, underdeveloped decrease limbs. From a purely consumerist perspective, that’s a disgrace as thighs are often among the finest tasting elements of a hen. These thighs have been unsatisfyingly spindly matchsticks with barely any pores and skin protection.
For an actual and constant sense of warmth on any of Nando’s hen dishes, you should improve to one of many sauces out there solely by the bottle. The Vusa doesn’t have a spot on Nando’s so-called Peri-ometer, however positively packs extra warmth than the so-called Further Scorching – though the ‘Intense Warmth’ appellation on the label is simply hyperbole. Simply as importantly, the Vusa additionally had a garlicky edge and a sizeable splash of acidity so it was greater than only a generically spicy sizzling sauce.
Sides and extras from Nando’s
Nando’s chunky chips have been lower from entire slices of potato, as is true and correct – no reconstituted mash right here. Though floppy quite than crisp, the actual crime was the spiced salt which was hardly any totally different from customary desk salt.
Giant, separated grains of rice have been marketed as spiced. Oddly although, the delicate transient warmth was solely actually noticeable in leftovers reheated the day after.
Peas have been inexperienced, minty and didn’t kill me.
I wasn’t anticipating a lot from Nando’s Nata tarts. Whereas removed from the best model of Belem’s egg custard treats with their paper bag-like pastry, the filling was not less than creamy. Whereas not almost eggy or custardy sufficient, its creaminess was nonetheless a step-up for the pitifully pale fillings in each frozen and grocery store bakery Nata tarts.
Sides and extras from Roosters Piri Piri
In a pleasing shock, Roosters’ chips have been additionally lower from entire potato into chunky troopers. Additionally like Nando’s chips, they have been floppy and dusted with a spiced salt that had transient spicing at greatest.
The coleslaw was, as anticipated, nothing to jot down residence about however not less than it wasn’t cloying and sickly. Its creaminess would’ve been a welcome counterpoint to the hen dishes if all of them had been as lip-tingling because the wings. Because it was, the coleslaw was little greater than a paltry excuse of a vegetable dish for salad dodgers.
The Verdict
Whereas Nando’s hen isn’t with out its charms, it was solely actually at its greatest when taken with a glug of one of many extra fiery, non-compulsory and bottle-only sizzling sauces. That doesn’t imply Roosters romps residence with all of the gongs although – its hen was equally mediocre in some ways and finally simply as middlingly passable given how little you’re paying for it.
In fact, nothing I write will ever dampen the cultish devotion surrounding Nando’s or the attractiveness of its erstwhile imitators and rivals. Neither is it meant to. In any case, the explanations behind their reputation go even deeper than the problems of value and accessibility talked about within the introduction.
There’s the difficulty of spicy warmth, or quite its common absence. Removed from a flaw for many individuals, it’s really a profit. The UK is, in any case, the originator of numerous Mumsnet posts proclaiming a choice for ‘bland meals’. This choice for comparatively uninteresting meals ties into the surprisingly prevalent concern of consuming one thing new. If making an attempt one thing aside from your acquainted favourites and probably coming away disenchanted is eternally a fear, then you definately’d naturally flip to Nando’s and its ilk. Their inoffensive mediocrity is nothing if not assuredly constant.
Maybe much more importantly, hen travels properly in contrast to numerous different dishes. That is extra necessary than ever as many eating places – together with all Nando’s and Roosters branches on the time of writing – stay closed for dine-in and lots of households depend on takeaway greater than ever. Each Roosters and Nando’s ship by Deliveroo, whereas the previous additionally works with Uber Eats.
My longtime Twitter followers will most likely be properly conscious of my disdain for these ‘gig financial system’ supply companies. Their supply drivers – who in London are sometimes folks of color – work below precarious situations for vanishingly small quantities of cash below the authorized fiction that they’re unbiased contractors.
These supply companies may be simply as detrimental for the eating places they purport to assist. Whereas many eating places are determined for any revenue they will get, the charges these companies cost lower into their already meagre takings. Including to this reducing irony, these companies additionally situation the general public to count on supply for as little cash as attainable whereas severing the direct relationship between them and the folks that cook dinner and ship their meals.
I detest these supply companies and despair at those that love them unconditionally and uncritically. Even so, I’m not going to rail towards those that want to make use of them whether or not they’re disabled, briefly or chronically unwell, completely sleep-deprived mother and father or whoever else.
All I ask is that, if you happen to should use these companies quite than accumulating your self or ordering from the eatery instantly, then tip your supply driver as a lot as you’ll be able to. A couple of quid can assist make an actual distinction to somebody’s life, which is a small value to pay for decent sauce hen and chips delivered to the doorstep.
Title: Nando’s
Department tried: 50 Powis Road, Woolwich, London SE18 6LQ
Telephone: 020 8854 7506
Internet: https://www.nandos.co.uk/eating places/woolwich
Opening Hours: seven days every week midday – 21.00 (allegedly).
Reservations: not taken
Common price for one particular person excluding supply charges: £20-25 approx.
Ranking: ★★★☆☆
Title: Roosters Piri Piri
Department tried: 5 Outdated Steady Row, Love Lane, London SE18 6JR
Telephone: 020 3620 7534
Internet: https://www.roosterspiripiri.com/copy-of-wood-green (that is the precise hyperlink, I child you not)
Opening Hours: seven days every week 11.00 – 23.00 (allegedly).
Reservations: not taken
Common price for one particular person excluding supply charges: £25 approx.
Ranking: ★★★☆☆
