Nando’s Flame grilled chicken

Hello friends! I was given the opportunity to head over to the new Nando’s flame grilled chicken location last week and it was a total blast! So of course I have to tell you all about it and what to get there to satisfy your chicken-loving soul.

Nando’s Flame grilled chicken has various locations in the Vancouver lower-mainland but the one I went to for this particular visit was the one in North Vancouver by Lion’s Gate Hospital. Being a Burnaby centric girl, I anticipated that this Nando’s location would be difficult to find since I didn’t know the area but it was centrally located right beside Whole Foods Market. If you plan on driving here, there is underground parking under Whole Foods Market and street parking about a block up.

Interior

The decor at Nando’s differ depending on which store you’re at and whether or not you’re at a newer location. The interior of the newer locations are inspired by African art and uses bright colours to fill up the space. Depending on which location you’re at, the colours can differ. Sometimes it can be green, yellow or orange but at this particular location, it’s red.

Menu

The menu at Nando’s is very straightforward. Their Peri Peri chicken is their feature and they offer it alone or in the form of sandwiches and wraps. You are able to have the option of adding sides and extras to them as well.

My favourite part about Nando’s was the option to choose how hot you want your chicken to be. It ranges from plain to extra hot. Most people stick to either the lemon + herb, mango + lime, or the medium though.

If you’re planning on sharing your chicken with friends and family who aren’t a fan of the heat, you can also always order your chicken with milder and add their sauce to it instead

PERi PERi sauce

So what exactly is in this PERi PERi seasoning they put into everything? There’s African chili peppers, jalapenos, onion, garlic, salt, vinegar, oil, and lemon juice. A few simple ingredients mashed (literally) to create something flavorful and delicious.

Because I came on a media night, we were given the opportunity to make our own version of it. I unfortunately, accidentally mistakened the salt for sugar and ended up with a salty mess. I tried to rescue it by adding lemon juice and vinegar but it didn’t seem to help much at that point.

To make it, we had to start off with the chopped garlic, paprika and chopped jalapenos. After that, we added in vinegar, oil, African chili flakes and salt.

Then we had to pound it all up so that it resembled a paste.

The last step was to add in the diced onions and pound it some more. This was the hardest part about the whole thing because the onions were quite difficult to mash up. Eventually I threw in the towel and gave up because the whole salt fiasco already threw me through a loop.

Now that I was done making my not so great looking PERi PERi sauce, it was time to eat.

Sangria

★★★★

We started our meal with a Sangria for me and a Beer for him. Grayson said that he quite liked the beer and I thought that the Sangria was strong on the wine. Not that I minded, but if you’re not a fan of red wine, this might not be the best choice for you. They also added berries into it which I thought was a nice touch.

PERi-PERi nuts

★★★

Our table also had mixed olives and PERi-PERi nuts at it which was just almonds, cashews and macadamias mixed in PERi-PERi seasoning.

PERi-PERi potato wedges

★★★★

Typically I’m not a huge fan or fries but I couldn’t say no to the PERi-PERi potato wedges. They were crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Pure potato bliss. They have a chips version of this as well called PERi-PERi chippers that come with PERi PERi mayo. They make these in-house and are a crowd-pleasure.

Super Grain Salad

★★

We figured we should get something to balance things out since we were getting the potato wedges so we opted to go for the Super Grain Salad. It had greens mixed, edamame, red quinoa, and creamy avocado buttermilk dressing on top. Typically I’m a fan of salads but I wasn’t a fan of this one because dressing in this one made it too sour. Grayson liked the acidity of it though.

Lemon herb 1/4 chicken

★★★★

Now on to the flame grilled chicken. We got a few varieties of the 1/4 Chicken (leg and thigh) and we started off with the lemon herb version. This one was juicy on the inside and the herbs were subtly noticeable.

Mango lime 1/4 chicken

★★★★

Next was the 1/4 chicken thigh with mango lime. This flame grilled chicken one was a lot sweeter than the lemon herb one even though they were on the same “spice level.” It wasn’t as juicy but we enjoyed it all the same.

We got this one with the spiced rice. I thought that the rice was slightly underdone because it was a little al dente. The most prominent spice in it was turmeric and this also helped colour the rice a nice golden shade of yellow. Assorted veggies came mixed in with it as well.

PERi-PERi chicken wrap

★★★★

These were probably my favorite things of the night, the wheat PERi-PERi chicken wrap and Roasted butternut squash with grilled corn.

The whole wheat wrap came with tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, chili jam and PERi-PERi chicken.  Then as if that wasn’t enough already, we added in grilled pineapple. The grilled pineapple took the wrap over the top because it added sweetness and the medium spiced chicken added heat. It was truly delicious!

Roasted butternut squash and grilled corn

★★★★

The Roasted butternut squash and grilled corn was tossed with red onion, raisins, fresh cilantro and chili. It was more sweet than anything because of the roasted corn and squash but there was some heat to it.

We couldn’t leave without having dessert so we decided to get the Pasteis de Natas (Portuguese tart) and the Chili Chocolate Cookie. I ordered both of these warmed up and I suggest that you do too when you order it.

Portuguese tart

★★★

The Portuguese tart is similar to an egg tart. It is flaky pastry surrounding a sweet custard. This custard was quite thick and sweeter than I expected so I wasn’t too big of a fan of that. The pastry however, was incredibly flaky. It reminded me of one of those butterfly cookies that just flake off ever so nicely as you eat it.

Chili chocolate cookie

★★★★

The chili chocolate cookie was no joke. I got it thinking it would be sweet and not too spicy but boy was I wrong! Yes it was fudgy and sweet in the middle but after a while, it packed a punch. I wouldn’t get this unless you’re a fan of spicy foods and chocolate!