Nando’s, 24 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast
Posted: 04 March '10 by Niall
Nandos, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast
After walking past the shiny and new Nando’s on Ormeau Avenue almost everyday since it opened I was looking forward to venturing in to what the menu was like. With Kelly incapacitated at the minute, the task fell to fellow Chilli-and-Chocolatier Eamann and myself.
The restaurant is a good size, and the decor helps this sense of space with an uncluttered style – plenty of glass and bright lights interspersed with potted plants and art – which makes you feel that you have a little more room to breathe in what can become a busy restaurant. We managed to get a table on the mezzinine and had the Nando-experience explained to us by the friendly waiting staff as we sat and started to work our way through the menu.
Since this review we’ve been back a couple of times, but the procedure for ordering your meal is still slightly annoying: having selected your meal from a fairly disorganised menu, you have to go to the tills and order your meal yourself. Now, this mightn’t sound too onerous but, weighed down by coats and baggage, you begin to wish that the waiter would just take your order at the table. I saw a table of ten people take time to gather all of their stuff just to traipse downstairs and order their meal. It’s not a fatal flaw, and truth-be-told it did create a relaxed and informal atmosphere, but it’s a black mark in my book.
The menu itself is a little limited – four or five basic nibbles to start your meal, lots of chicken (obviously!), with a couple of veggie and meat options too. Realistically though, if you don’t like chicken, Nando’s probably isn’t the place for you. Your chicken comes with a choice of marinades – from the Extra Hot to Lemon and Herb or Mango and Lime (you can also have it without a marinade) – which you select when ordering your meal. Eamann and I both like our spicy food so we went for the Hot sauce.
Our hoummus starter was with us in no time, served with slices of warm pitta to dunk. The hoummus itself is quite good – chunky and with good flavour – but the peri-peri drizzle makes it so much better.. fiery and spicy. The amount that you get is also deceptive – there was more than enough for two people in this portion – although you will be squabbling over the last piece of pitta to mop up every morsel.
The chicken pittas weren’t a disappointment either, stuffed with double-breast fillets, youghurt and peppery rocket salad. The flavour of the meat was really good – chargrilled to perfection, moist and succulent. Again, the portions were extremely good and took some time to finish. The fries were decent too, although I thought that the peri-peri salt was a bit of a waste. The marinade on the chicken really did give the meal a lot of flavour – however, you’re fully encouraged to bring bottles of sauce down to your table, so Eamann and I thought that we’d try the Extra Hot sauce for the purposes of journalistic research. I can report that there is a delicious lime tang.. shortly before your tongue and lips go numb and the fire starts in your throat.
I’d forgotten to order some grilled Halloumi cheese which, when it’s on the menu, is a must. Deciding whether to leave my meal to go to the tills again or not, our waiter mentioned that he could take our order if we needed anything else. The Halloumi duly arrived and rounded off a very tasty meal.
I had two bottles of a Portuguese beer called “Sagres” which Kelly and I had tried on our hols last year. While the beer was enjoyable it was a little expensive – the bottomless fizzy drinks that Eamann had the sense to order are a great choice and you will get through several glasses, particularly if you go for the hotter sauces!
| Starters: | |
|---|---|
| Hoummus with peri-peri drizzle | £3.10 |
| Mains: | |
| Double breast fillet in pitta (inc. fries) x2 | £9.75 ea. |
| Sundries: | |
| Grilled Haloumi Cheese | £1 |
| Peri-peri salt for fries | £0.10 |
| Drinks: | |
| Sagres beer x2 | £3.15 ea |
| Bottom-less Coke | £2.10 |
| Total: | £32.10 |
Our verdict:
Restaurant-chains usually aren’t our favourite places to eat, but Nando’s does what it does well – tasty food, served quickly, and is fairly inexpensive (considering the price you normally pay for eating-out in Belfast).
The food in Nando’s feels quite healthy too. All of those fresh salads and the chargrilling means that you certainly won’t leave with the sluggishness and guilt you might experience after other quick-dining alternatives.
Our main courses were with us in around 20 minutes from the time that we ordered – so it’s a great option for a mid-week meal after work when cooking for yourself just seems like too much hassle.
As I’ve already said, we’ve been back a couple of times which is as good an endorsement as we could give!
Nando’s
24, Ormeau Avenue,
Belfast
BT2 8HS
T: 02890 434442
W: www.nandos.co.uk
You can also see Nando’s, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast on Google Maps.
Other information
Jane Hardy in the Sunday Life (Feb 14) mentioned that the chicken in Nando’s was free-range. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case – the chickens that Nando’s use are sourced mainly in the UK and meet the Assured Chicken Production standards which means that they are battery-farmed, albeit with better conditions than used to be the case.
Tags: belfast restaurant guide, belfast restaurants, eating out in belfast, restaurant, restaurant review, review, where to eat in belfast
Categories: Restaurant Reviews
I disagree about the price of Nando’s, there are some fantastic lunch deals out there in the centre of Belfast in terms of price that would run at less than £30 for very good food. I was very unimpressed by pretty much everything apart from the cheesecake. The lack of imagination for starters is crazy!
I would agree John but this wasn’t lunch, it was in the evening – and both os us left Nando’s fairly satisfied, which takes some doing! I think Niall’s 2.5 rating is fair.. good for a quick and tasty meal, but not an amazing dining experience..
I have been eating at Nando’s for 10 years in London I love it Victoria Square in the early opening days was horrible obviously not trained very well! I hope the new venue is better looking forward to this with friends and their kids over the Easter hols as I have made the suggestion. I hope the Nando’s food chain here tastes as good as the London chains!