AJ’s Piri Piri Chicken – Afro-Portuguese Flavors

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How does this sound to you: a well marinaded and perfectly grilled chicken, drenched in a fiery hot African sauce? I don’t know about you, but that sure made me salivate!

As soon as I hear that the UK fast food chain, aj’s piri piri chicken, has set up its first franchise outlet in Singapore that promises to bring us the aforementioned chicken, I make a mad rush down to grab a piece. It’s on the 5th level of Iluma, the new shopping mall at Bugis.

So what is piri piri? It’s a tiny red chili pepper that is found in Africa. The Portuguese blend it with various herbs and spices and voila! There’s your hot hot piri piri sauce!

The restaurant serves the afro-portuguese chicken in different tantalising styles like hot plate, burgers, wraps, pastas and more.

¼ Piri Piri Chicken
SGD7.20+

Of course, a virgin taste test should start off with the piri piri chicken in all its naked glory. So I order the quarter-chicken with fries on the side, but you can opt for sweet corn if you wish. With 3 different sauces to choose from — mild, very spicy and lemon herb — I go for the first. When unsure, always err on the safer side.

For $7.20, the lone piece of chicken thigh sure looks puny! I tell myself that quality is more important than quantity. But disappointingly the sauce is nothing to shout about. It is more salty than anything else, without any hint of other herbs. This can’t be what the real piri piri sauce tastes like, can it?

On top of it all there is way too little sauce. It would help a lot if the dish comes with a small tub of the sauce on the side.

Super Slimmer chicken wrap

Super Slimmer chicken wrap
SGD6.80+

Thankfully, the super slimmer chicken wrap fares much better. Again, the chunk of chicken in the wrap is pretty small. But it also tastes very good, with the seasoned flavors penetrating all the way to the center of the flesh.

Super Slimmer chicken wrap

This also happens to be a healthier dish, where the less fattening chicken breast meat is used and layered with vegetables.

Earlier on, I’ve asked for warm water as I’m nursing a nasty cough. Unfortunately they are willing to serve just iced water. (so how do they make their coffee then?)

The soreness soon dissipates when I make my payment and notice a 25% discount on my bill. Suddenly the meal seems a whole lot more reasonably priced! They are “not sure” when this promotion would end, so do take advantage of the discount while you can!

(I have included the food menu here. This is a new feature that I hope to introduce to my food reviews from now on… Or not. Some establishments are super sensitive about these things.)

Click to enlarge

Clearly, the restaurant’s isolated position in an already uncrowded mall does not work to its advantage. It is overshadowed by the filmgarde cinema on the same level and an entire level of eateries just one floor down. Most people would simply head straight to the more accessible restaurants and miss it altogether.

I heard that nando’s is the “original” fast food chain that specialises in piri piri chicken. Unfortunately there isn’t an outlet in Singapore yet. When I visit Kuala Lumpur next week, I aim to pay it a visit. (Update: here’s my review of nando’s)

Is there any other eatery in Singapore that sells piri piri chicken?

Update: aj’s piri piri chicken has moved to the food court at sim lim square. The menu is similar but with cheaper prices. (thanks chouzhouzi!)

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About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her on Twitter: @sparklette.

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25 responses

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Myo Han Htun
July 3

You made me hungry. :D
Reply
aruna
July 3

your blog design is excellent! well done!
Reply
Candida
July 3

Hi, Veron
ur blog design is fabulous ,It would really be great if you could include fairytale stories in ur blog.Also do let me know which are ur favourite fairytales???
Reply
Kyo
July 3

Nice review – I’ll also be flying to KUL next week. :)
I rarely crave for piri-piri or peri-peri, but if I do, I go to Nandos. I miss oPorto’s in Sydney, though… they make great peri-peri burgers.
Reply
- Veron
  July 4
  
  Are the Nando’s branches outside of the UK any good? I heard those in Malaysia are “nowhere close to the original”. Hope I won’t be disappointed!
  Reply
  - Kyo
    July 4
    
    I find the ones in Malaysia are average. I prefer eating the nasi bojari at Madam Kwan’s (some great choices on that menu, btw)…
    The Nando’s in Thailand is also decent, but I have to say the Aussie ones are my preferred option
    Reply
    - peter
      December 1
      
      Nandos in Australia is great its just overpriced. Opportos and Ogalos are king tho! i wish they came to singapore! i miss those two places haha there peri peri sauce is awesome.
      Reply
proud mom to maximus
July 7

hey veron..
dun hv to go to KL to get a taste of Nando’s…at Bukit Indah Jusco, they hv one outlet. jUST 30 minutes drive via 2nd link. A&W is also there!! Blissful! And i love Nando’s to the bits!
Another one to try is Charco’s at bLK 608 AMK ave 5..situated at the old neighbourhood coffeeshop, they serve yummylicious grilled chicken, original and portugese alongside with variety of salads to choose from their bar. reasonably price too…
Reply
- Veron
  July 7
  
  Nando’s sounds promising! Thanks for the tip! I’m headed to KL anyway so I’ll check it out over there!
  And I’ll check out Charco’s when I get back. Haha
  Reply
jason
July 24

the address should be 201 Victoria Street #05-11
Singapore 188067 not 188607
Reply
- Veron
  July 24
  
  Thanks for correcting me! I have been wondering why I couldn’t get the correct map to display, and thought that the new mall has yet to be added to the maps. Turns out that I got the postal code wrong!
  I have amended my entry as well as another post on a restaurant from the same mall. You have no idea how much you helped!
  Reply
sandra
July 24

hi there, coffee club sells piripiri chicken & pasta :)
Reply
- Veron
  July 24
  
  Thanks for letting us know! Is it good?
  Reply
  - sandra
    July 26
    
    personally, the piri piri chic & pasta is not very dry nor very damp so its just right. try it if u get a chance @ coffee club. by the way, it goes well with ice lychee mint freeze :) cheers
    Reply
Fernanado
July 27

shall have to make my way there! i wait until we have nandos. mmm…piri piri
Reply
Winnie98
July 29

Aj Piri Piri Chicken,yum yum.
Reply
madi
August 4

i need to know is it halal? as nandos is halal can any one tell me plz?
Reply
- Julien
  August 21
  
  Nando’s is not Halal, only the ones in Malaysia are. Everywhere else in the world, Nando’s is a normal restaurant serving alcohol like beer and wine.
  Reply
Teck Seng
August 24

AJ Chicken has closed down. Its no longer at Iluma mall.
Reply
- Veron
  August 25
  
  Are you sure? That’s pretty sad, considering how new the mall and the restaurant is.
  Reply
  - Dave
    August 25
    
    Yep, they are closed. I was at Iluma 3 days ago and both AJ and that noodle place beside it have closed shop. Does anyone know if AJ has moved or have they gone bust?
    Reply
    - Veron
      August 27
      
      Thanks! I have updated this post. It’s sad to hear that they have closed only after such a short while. Let’s see if they would resurface someplace else.
      Reply
      - chaozhouzi
        October 7
        
        Hi Veron, I saw a AJ piri piri chicken stall at Sim Lim Sq food court quite a while back. It is right to the end next to the chicken rice stall. It has the same menu items displayed all over the stall. Wondering if it is the same, I patronise the stall yesterday and asked the stall operator. She confirm with me they were formerly at lluma. (Moved out due to high rental). I saw the prices on the menu are lower here. Noted that the hickory smoked ribs and half a chicken are priced at $8.20 each.
        BTW, the chicken and pj rice ($4.20) I had was just passable. The meat was very dry. After my meal, I saw one guy with the same order but with a huge succulent drumstick on his plate whereas mine was a few small pieces unlike the pic. I wonder….
Veron
October 7

Thanks! I have updated my post to highlight its new location. It looks like the prices at this location are cheaper, too, which is good news.
Reply