{"id":5208,"date":"2011-03-27T10:49:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T05:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=5208"},"modified":"2011-08-26T09:59:20","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T04:29:20","slug":"nandos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2011\/03\/27\/nandos\/","title":{"rendered":"Nando\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The review was first published in Bangalore Mirror<\/a>, this one isn’t peri peri different, just a few changes.<\/p>\n

30 countries spread over 5 continents, but now, we’re just one Big 10 away from our chance to sample what they call the Nando\u2019s \u201cexperi-perience\u201d. An international chain of casual dining restaurants that originated in South Africa, Nando’s has a Portuguese \u2013 Mozambique theme, and is famous for the Peri Peri sauces.<\/p>\n

Since it’s Church Street, I am not competent enough to offer any suggestions on parking. We reached there early – around 7.30, my strategically selected Nandosts<\/em> and I, and found ourselves among the first lot of customers for the evening. The snag therefore was a constantly hovering service staff, whom we finally had to politely but firmly fend off.<\/p>\n

The decor and furniture are quite a few notches above casual dining. Bright colors and music that goes with the restaurant\u2019s theme ensure that there\u2019s a buzz to the place. The unique tablemats and the famous bottles of sauce only add to the setting. My friends noted that this setting was quite different from their Nando’s experience abroad.<\/p>\n

The menu screams chicken. Loads of it \u2013 liver, wings, chicken meals, Espetada and so on. But vegetarians need not be completely put off since they have quite a few options including salads, hummus, burgers and several side dishes. Zomato<\/a> has the menu and a few photos. Like all the other chains that pay homage to the uniqueness that\u2019s India, Nando\u2019s does too, in the form of a Peri Peri Paneer. There are also a few interesting beverages and dessert options. Note the conversational tone of the menu and the occasional witticisms and wordplay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>We decided to start with the Indianised offering \u2013 Peri Peri Paneer, with the Extra hot sauce. It wasn\u2019t as spicy as we expected, but still managed to deliver. The Petisco platter would\u2019ve worked if not for the chicken wings, which were not only undercooked \u2013 a problem that was repeated later with the Quarter Chicken Meal, but suffered from an uneven distribution of spiciness. Its other flaw was the pita bread, though the hummus was quite good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The Chicken Espetada Rustica, in the main course, was quite a visual treat, in addition to being a reasonably tasty dish, despite the deceptively bland butter. The Chicken Strips & Rice also proved a good choice though the rice could have done with more flavour. The potato wedges were surprisingly good. The Chicken Wrap was a complete disaster, with the wrap taking its role too seriously. The sauces, famed for their spice were more tangy than hot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Except for the Natas, the desserts failed to make any impact. Ditto the beverages, though we expected much from the Crimson Cola and the Poncha Zurra Tinto. So that should give you an idea of Nando’s and dont’s. Meanwhile, the portion sizes are not that great for the Quarter Meal and Chicken Strips, so a full stomach is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

The service is a bit patchy, especially when the crowd grows. Though there were no delays in taking orders or serving the dishes, refilling water promptly is a skill that needs to be learned when dealing with spicy stuff.<\/p>\n

Go there you must, to know what makes the African Bird’s Eye chilli so famous, but though it\u2019s definitely different from the regular chicken stereotype, you\u2019ll wonder whether it\u2019s really worth the hype. Nando\u2019s does need to polish its act for sustained prosperi-perity.<\/p>\n

Nando\u2019s, 1A Church Street, Bangalore – 1. Tel: 65681480<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The review was first published in Bangalore Mirror, this one isn’t peri peri different, just a few changes. 30 countries spread over 5 continents, but now, we’re just one Big 10 away from our chance to sample what they call the Nando\u2019s \u201cexperi-perience\u201d. An international chain of casual dining restaurants that originated in South Africa, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1981,375,374],"tags":[316,1783,1784],"class_list":["post-5208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bangalore-mirror","category-central-bangalore","category-restaurant-reviews","tag-church-street","tag-nandos","tag-peri-peri-chicken"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5826,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208\/revisions\/5826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}