Because of religious reasons my parents never cooked beef or pork. It was chicken, goat, lamb, fish and more chicken so needless to say I’ve had my fill of it. That is one of the reasons why I never order chicken at restaurants, the other being because most restaurants only serve the breast, which is the driest, most tasteless piece of meat from any animal that I’ve eaten. We’ll get back to the chicken breast in a little bit.
Last Friday, Nando’s Flame Grilled Chicken invited me to their media preview at their newest location in the historic McLaughlin Motor Car Showroom, at Bay and Grenville. Nando’s was founded in 1987 in South Africa and has spread to twenty four different countries. The secret to their success lies in a small chilli pepper that grows in rich South African soil called Bird’s Eye Chili or peri peri, a spice so nice that it had to be named twice.
Walking into the restaurant, I was very surprised by the decor. This looked nothing like what you’d expect from a chain restaurant serving grilled, pardon me, flame grilled chicken. Big comfy leather booths, warm lighting, dark woods and various South African art pieces filled the space.
Big comfortable leather booths
As soon as we found an empty table servers came by with trays of samples from the kitchen, including piri piri fries, chicken sliders, olives, hummus and the star of the evening, Nando’s Flame Grilled chicken.
Samples
Some of you will realize from the picture that, ironically, I ended up with the piece of meat I dislike the most, the dreaded chicken breast. That is no longer the case. This was the juiciest, most flavourful chicken breast I’ve ever had. It’s quite evident that Nando’s takes the time to properly marinate their chicken before grilling it. While I won’t say that I’ve changed my mind about chicken in restaurants, I will say that I certainly wouldn’t object to ordering it at Nando’s.
Flame grilled chicken, picture courtesy of Nandos
A hot thigh
South African themed art
Gifts
Condiments available to customers
Peri peri fries
Chicken meal, picture courtesy of Nandos
Nando’s
832 Bay Street
Toronto, On
www.nandos.ca
(416) 925 8888
2 comments
I added some PERI-PERI Sauce to a sweet potato vegetarian chilli that I made last week – wow – did it ever make a difference to the dish. Hope you get a chance to cook with it too.
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I had some roasted chicken thighs and I slathered the sauce on before adding it to my sandwich. It was amazing!