If I was to hazard a guess at how many times I’ve eaten at Nando’s I would put it at the 400 mark… I know, that’s a crazy amount of Nando’s!

At one stage in my life I was going there twice a week. Predominantly in the United Kingdom but also United States, Singapore and Australia!

I’m a lover of spicy food and there is just something about being able to head to a restaurant where I have complete control over how spicy I have my chicken and all the sauces I can ever need in life.

So it’s safe to say I’m a fan of a ‘cheeky Nando’s’ every now and then.

Since I often blog about my verdict on local international food I figured it’s about time I write something about my favourite Afro – Portuguese restaurant too.

If you’ve never been to Nando’s, where have you been?? It is possibly the most popular restaurant in the UK. Due to its popularity, just like most things, there are so many people now that claim Nando’s is ‘overrated’. But trust me if you love chicken and have a palette for spicy food you’ll understand the struggle I am faced with frequently when I’m not in Nando’s. Do you have any spicy sauces at all? No sorry. You can have piri piri sauce but it’ll cost you £1.19 extra for a small pot… blah blah blah.

Nando’s is the place where you can go wild with a collection of tasty sauces to pour all over your food at no additional cost. And I really do take it to the extreme! (My favourites being hot for chicken, Vusa for chips, Lemon & Herb for mash and extra extra hot when i’m feeling it!)

The great thing about Nando’s is it’s both casual and fancy. So it appeals to everyone and you can go there for any occasion. What I mean by this is, i’ll go there for lunch with friends – Even been on my own before! Or you could go there on a Friday/Saturday night and the attire will be less casual. The decor is stylish so it’s not like sitting in McDonald’s or KFC for the night!

I love the fact that you have no waiting staff responsible for your table. So how it works is you get seated by a server, choose what you want then go order from the till. Once you’ve ordered they’ll bring the food over to you – Basically like Wetherspoon’s if you’ve ever been there.

If you order a soft drink it will come bottomless so you’ll be given a glass and can fill it up as many times as you wish. So no waiting for a server to come and do it for you! You’ll also grab your own cutlery and condiments.

The food on offer features a variety of chicken dishes including wraps, burgers, pitta’s and chicken off or on the bone. My personal favourite is a hot 1/4 chicken breast which comes with 2 sides – the perfect amount of food for me! There are a variety of starters and desserts you can add too. My personal recommendations would be Halloumi and any of the cheesecakes. Sides I love include chargrilled veg, spicy rice and definitely peri salted chips! Don’t forget to try the mayo, it tastes very unique!

I think the prices are very reasonable and you can easily get a meal for less than £10 here. Since I don’t drink fizzy drinks I tend to go for free ice water or a bottle of wine! Me and my friends often frequent Nando’s for our monthly catch ups.

Yesterday I opted for the Chicken Vino Wrap and peri salted chips. It cost me a whopping £2.50 in total. How?

Well because Nando’s is so popular it offers a loyalty scheme! With a Nando’s card you can earn a ‘chilli’ every time you visit and spend over £7. This works like a stamp system, earn 10 stamps and you’ll get a free whole chicken! With a free 1/4 chicken at 3 stamps and a free single wrap, burger or pitta at 6 stamps. Plus if you claim a reward at 3 or 6 stamps, they won’t reset so you can continue building up your collection. This works out at a delicious 3 rewards over the period of 10 visits!

The Nando’s app is also very good allowing you to keep track of your visits.

I don’t go to Nando’s as often as I used to because I no longer live in Leeds city centre but I do still love heading here with my pals. I think the decor and atmosphere is nice, the food is cheap and the setting is very chilled. I’ve visited many restaurants up and down the country but my personal favourite is probably the relatively new one located in Bradford city centre. All photos on this blog post were taken at the Leeds Nando’s in Kirkstall.

If you wish to visit Nando’s oversea’s it is very similar but not the same. Obviously bread is different in each country as is the taste of many things. Australia I found a distinctive lack of mayo and choices of mild sauces, Singapore offered more menu items and the USA I attempted to avoid anything made with bread as i’m really not a fan of the ‘sweet’ bread found in the States.

I took some photographs of the menu during my visit to Singapore in 2016. Managed to dig these out from a previous blog post!

You can buy the sauces from your local supermarkets to make your own Nando’s at home. Of course I do this but it doesn’t come close to the real thing… It just doesn’t taste the same! If you’ve ever bought them you’ll know what I mean. However, they are still nice sauces and I’ll always invest in the biggest bottle possible!

So get yourself over to Nando’s today if you haven’t visited before then you can decide for yourself whether it’s overrated or not. You never know you might get hooked on the stuff and be unable to resist a regular ‘cheeky Nando’s’!

What do you think of Nando’s?