Nando’s – Peri Me Away

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I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a short trip last week. One of the things on my checklist was to dine at Nando’s, the UK fast food franchise specialising in the Afro-Portuguese peri peri (or piri piri) chicken. (Whoa, that’s one multi-national chicken!)

We don’t have any Nando’s restaurant here in Singapore (but we used to). My first peri peri experience was at AJ’s Piri Piri Chicken, another UK franchise that is modeled after (read: copied) Nando’s. Their chicken didn’t wow me. So I was very much looking forward to checking out one of the many Nando’s outlets scattered across Malaysia.

The spicy chicken here even comes with a cute little flag that indicates the spiciness level on the “Peri-o-meter”. That’s like what some people do for burgers!

¼ chicken with 2 sidelines
RM$14.50+ + 5% government tax

like before, I order the classic chicken to get a taste of the peri peri sauce. For a quarter chicken, the size is ample. Even though there may be no visible sauce on the dish, the meat certainly is packed with flavor, the result of 24 hours of marination before being flame-grilled to perfection.

If you like your food salty, sour and spicy, then you would absolutely love peri peri chicken. For me personally, I do prefer some sweetness in my spices and curries, so I haven’t really taken a liking to it. I’m just glad that the sweetness of the coleslaw balances out the sourness.

As indicated by the colored flag, the “mild” spiciness level is really comfortable. I think most people, first-timers included, can handle the next degree of spiciness, “hot”, well.

Peri chips

All chicken meals here come with two side dishes. I choose peri chips and coleslaw, among others like old style chips, Mediterranean rice, peri corn, peri potato salad, grilled veggies and fresh salad.

The chips are sprinkled with peri powder. If you are like me, you would definitely need some sauce to dip the chips.

Peri Peri sauces

Each table comes with four different types of sauce — ketchup, extra hot, hot and garlic peri peri sauces. After sampling the latter three, I find that they aren’t THAT spicy!

Nando's Peri-o-meter

Here’s the aforementioned Peri-o-meter that allows you to “choose your heat before you eat”. Despite what they say, the “mild” sauce is unexciting and does not provide much of an adventure. I find myself reaching for the extra hot peri peri sauce most of the time!

Nando's

I think I must be among the minority that aren’t a fan of the peri peri chicken. Heck, they don’t need my business anyway; the restaurants are already packed all the time!

Attached Nando’s menu here for your reference. Dine happy!

Nando’s (

Halal certified)
Various outlets
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

www.nandos.co.uk

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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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29 responses

Leave your comment

proud mom to maximus
July 14

yumyum!!
im going back to Jusco bukit indah to wallop Nando’s pretty soon!
Reply
Jeff
July 14

I miss Nandos. Always made it a point to buy back a pack of the sauces.
Reply
- Veron
  July 14
  
  I didn’t realise they sell the sauces too!
  Reply
  - Jeff
    July 16
    
    That pict of those 4 sauces.
    You should be able to buy a pack of those at the counter (unless they’ve stopped selling them).
    Reply
Bobo
July 14

We used to have a Nando’s in Marina Square once upon a time…
Reply
- Veron
  July 14
  
  I heard about that. It must have been before the revamp of the mall.
  Reply
ida
July 14

hi veron, seeing that u love chicken so much, thought i reccommend u Charco’s. :)

Charco’s The Flaming Chicken
Blk 608, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
#01-2771
Tel/Fax : 6455 3711
Reply
- Veron
  July 15
  
  Thanks! proud mom to maximus also recommended Charco’s so the food must be really good!
  Reply
XWings
July 15

What time was the last pic taken ? It doesn’t seem like its that packed or crowded ?
Reply
- Veron
  July 15
  
  That was dinner time. Actually there is a whole big crowded section that can’t be seen from the picture. Most people chose to sit there rather than the area near the exit where passers-by can watch them eating.
  Reply
chelley
July 15

I fell in love with nandos when I wa sstudying in perth for 4 years and wa sstuffing myself when I wen tto Kl…… but GOOD NEWS!! NANDOS IS HITTING SINGAPORE THIS OCTOBER!!!!!! http://www.btimes.co.za/97/0817/comp/comp9.htm

LOOK OUT FOR IT GUYS!!!

p.s. and i love your blog! Been following it for a long time!
Reply
- Veron
  July 15
  
  “Nando’s plans to open 20 branches in Singapore over the next four years, but also to use Singapore as a springboard into the Pacific Rim.”
  
  Wow! That’s awesome news for many people :D And despite what I said, I would check it out too.
  Reply
- Julien
  August 21
  
  Actually the article you posted is 3 years old. I read that three years ago and was excited at the prospect of having Nando’s in Singapore. Till today, there is still no Nando’s in Singapore. They probably think that Nando’s won’t work in Singapore, for the same reasons there aren’t any Nando’s in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.
  
  I think there are some Asians/Orientals who like Nando’s, me included, but there are just not enough yet to justify Nando’s entering the Chinese/Korean/Japanese market.
  Reply
takeuaway
July 17

Hey, that looks exactly like barcelos in vivo city and holland v. Even the sauces are the same.
Reply
- Julien
  August 21
  
  Yeah, but Nando’s was established before Barcelos, so who do you think copied from whom? I tried Barcelos at Vivocity, its ok but it pales in comparison to Nando’s. Its not as tasty or juicy and the sauces are rather bland, I thought. Nando’s is definitely better. Nando’s operates as a restaurant, serving a whole range of drinks whereas Barcelos is more like a fast food outlet with restaurant prices. When I tried to order beer at Barcelos, they told me they don’t serve alcohol because they are Halal. Halal? In Singapore where 80% are Chinese? What kind of a business model is that?
  Reply
  - Veron
    August 21
    
    Yeah. I haven’t been to Barcelos, but if the concept is identical, then it’s pretty likely that they are emulating the more famous Nando’s. With these similar concept restaurants opening up in Singapore, I wonder why Nando’s hasn’t (re)opened an outlet here!
    
    Oh I actually feel that Barcelos is following a good business model by not serving alcohol. This way, they are catering to 100% of the population. In fact more restaurants are doing that these days. Even the Aussie-run Charco’s!
    Reply
Arno
July 22

I love Nando’s too.

Just to make things straight. Nando’s is from South Africa and the Peri-Peri sauce has a Portuguese feel since it first came from Angola (ex Portuguese colony).

Enjoy
Reply
Fernanado
July 27

mmm…love your blog.
can’t wait ’till there’s a nandos on every corner in sg.
Reply
guan
August 3

i use to stay in penang, been eating nandos for many years. after moving back to singapore, was sad that nandos did not exist in singapore. recently i went to johor, and i finaly get to eat nandos.
i notice the standard dropped a lot. and level of the spicyness has also dropped.

however the nandos in australia is still good! they even sell the nandos sauce at the supermakets
Reply
- Veron
  August 3
  
  Wow, both you and Kyo agree that the Nando’s in Australia is good!
  
  The one in Malaysia is the first and only Nando’s I have visited in the world, so I can’t comment on anything beyond that. Like you, I also noticed that the food isn’t really spicy. Not even the spiciest sauce is spicy enough! I’m looking forward to the day when I can visit a Nando’s restaurant that serves truly great-tasting food :)
  Reply
  - Julien
    August 21
    
    If you go to any Nando’s in South Africa, UK and Australia, the taste is very good. But, for some reason, the taste is not as good in Malaysia. I lived in Australia for more than 10 years and once went to Penang and KL with an Aussie friend and also a relative from the UK, and we all felt that the Nando’s in Malaysia was a big letdown and different from Nando’s elsewhere. I don’t know why. We also liked to eat our chicken with wine and beer which we do at every Nando’s except Malaysia, where they don’t serve alcohol.
    Reply
    - guan
      August 21
      
      i agree that aussie nandos is good. When Nandos just started in Penang, the quality was nearly the same as Australia’s. but now im not sure because haven went back to penang for ages. and hell yeah! they should allow us to drink wine!
      Reply
Vincent
August 25

I went for a movie at Vivocity and walked by Barcelos and did a doubletake. I thought it was Nando’s but called Barcelos only in Singapore. I mean, it looks exactly the same! My wife’s Malaysian so I am quite familiar with Nando’s and thus walked into Barcelos with high expectations of the food. It was a letdown. Its not quite the same. The chicken and sauce (I had supa peri) is just not as nice. Even the chips are lousy compared to Nando’s.

Why isn’t there any Nando’s in Singapore yet?
Reply
Vincent
September 1

Nando’s and Barcelos? No fight man, Nando’s beats hands down. Barcelos is just an inferior copycat and wannabe. Nando’s has better tasting chicken and the chips, don’t get me started. Look at the picture of the Nando’s chips above. Its long, juicy and soft. The Barcelos chips are hard, stale and tasteless. I mean, how difficult is it to make nice chips? But I am still happy that Barcelos is in town, at least I get to eat some peri chicken (although an inferior version) before Nando’s arrives.

Any of you Nando’s lovers out there know when Nando’s is arriving? Their facebook says September, well, its already September and still no sign.
Reply
Tang
September 4

Tried Barcelos for the first time with some friends at Vivo. Never tried Nando’s so can’t really compare. Its a hit and miss for us. Some liked some items and some didn’t. I think its better than Kenny Rogers but since its just chicken, you can’t really eat it too often. But we all felt that its too expensive for fast food. We paid restaurant prices but had to order at a counter and our boyfriends even had to collect the cutlery for us. As someone else mentioned, the drinks range is also very limited. Its a pity, I rather like the chicken but we probably wouldn’t go there again unless Barcelos remedies its shortcomings.
Reply
XWings
September 9

Morning,

Haven’t being reading your blog for quite awhile…. Came in n saw some of the comments….. Now having some conflicts of whether should i go check out the food or not, or wait patiently for Nando to come to SG ?

Regards
Reply
- Veron
  September 9
  
  For now, we don’t really know for sure if Nando’s is really coming to Singapore. If you’re headed to Malaysia anyway, why not check it out over there? :)
  Reply
Alwyn Tan
December 7

Hey!

Wah it seems all roads lead to yr site. I ta pau some Barcelos at vivo over weekend cause wanted to try since i’ve always passed by w/o ordering. The concept looks strangely famimilar to Nando’s. When i saw the 4 sauces ava, i thought wow is this an off shoot or copy cat? I even asked the cashier is this part of Nando’s.

The chicken was so so only. Nando’s much better. Just ta pau some at pavillion in KL when i was there.

Try the roast duck opposite Barcelos (chinese rest name), they have 3 different chinese herbal sauces. Not too bad.

Alwyn
Reply
Veron
March 21

Good news! Nando’s IS coming to Singapore after all!

Their website is up: http://www.nandos.com.sg
Reply