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AJ’s Piri Piri Chicken – Afro-Portuguese Flavors [Closed]

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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.

Piri Piri Chicken

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 SGD7.20, 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 unwilling to do that. (The staff asked the manager, who said no right in front of me.)

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!

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 hear that Nando’s is the “original” fast food chain that specialises in piri piri chicken. Here’s my review of Nando’s in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Gotta check out the one in Singapore soon!

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

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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 WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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28 responses

Leave your comment

Myo Han Htun
July 3, 2009

You made me hungry. :D
Reply
aruna
July 3, 2009

your blog design is excellent! well done!
Reply
Candida
July 3, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009
  
  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, 2009
    
    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, 2009
      
      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, 2009

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, 2009
  
  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, 2009

the address should be 201 Victoria Street #05-11
Singapore 188067 not 188607
Reply
- Veron
  July 24, 2009
  
  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, 2009

hi there, coffee club sells piripiri chicken & pasta :)
Reply
- Veron
  July 24, 2009
  
  Thanks for letting us know! Is it good?
  Reply
  - sandra
    July 26, 2009
    
    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, 2009

shall have to make my way there! i wait until we have nandos. mmm…piri piri
Reply
Winnie98
July 29, 2009

Aj Piri Piri Chicken,yum yum.
Reply
madi
August 4, 2009

i need to know is it halal? as nandos is halal can any one tell me plz?
Reply
- Julien
  August 21, 2009
  
  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, 2009

AJ Chicken has closed down. Its no longer at Iluma mall.
Reply
- Veron
  August 25, 2009
  
  Are you sure? That’s pretty sad, considering how new the mall and the restaurant is.
  Reply
  - Dave
    August 25, 2009
    
    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, 2009
      
      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, 2009
        
        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….
        Reply
        
        Veron
        October 7, 2009
        
        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
        
        Veron
        May 27, 2010
        
        I paid a visit to the Sim Lim Square food court last week. The stall is no longer there :(
        Reply
Luis Torres
April 9, 2010

Hi!
I am sure that you have never actually had proper Portuguese piri-piri chicken or you would despise a visit to such place.

Take what you so called the “original” Portuguese chicken chain…they are not even Portuguese! Everyone know that of course but what bothers me most, as a proud Portuguese, is the fact that places like such depict our good name with their food. You may think: “But Nando’s food is great!” No it is not! Ever been to Portugal and tried actual CHARCOAL flame grill chicken? Even the worst place can make a better chicken than Nandos or AJ’s.

Even though Nando’s is spread over 25 countries, with hundreds of restaurants, why do you think they have 0 (as in zero!) restaurante in Portugal? Or AJ’s? Why has no one in Portugal ever heard of them?

Simple: their products could never survive in the Portuguese market, being we a country proud of our great food first and foremost. Of course we have fast food chains and they are very successful, but no foreign company could ever enter our market trying to sell one of our own products…

There is one simple reason why they are reluctant to do so. The benefits of trying and succeeding at the Portuguese market are by far smaller than the losses of trying and failing.

Why are there no Starbucks in Italy?
I leave you with that thought….
Reply
Mr YY
May 23, 2010

Nando’s have opened an outlet at Bugist. It was even featured in the Sunday papers (23th May 2010) Went yesterday, it was very crowded and seems to be a favorite with foreigners (lots of Ang mo).

Wanted to comment on the customer service, while waiting for my food to be serviced, the boss offered a soup or starter to pass the time as apology for the long wait. I replied “its ok”. But he insisted sayings its unreasonable to wait and its on the house.

When I got the bill, I checked to see that indeed the starter was excluded. When I wanted to pay, the boss rushed over to stop the payment and say the whole meal is on the house. I thought it’s just the starter!!

That is what I call good customer service.

Won’t comment on the food so as to contradict other people, go be your own judge and try it yourself.
Reply