Megan Amram on the chain restaurant that transcends its own category
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Nando’s Victoria: Portland’s Finest Marxist Discovers the Universal Language of Peri-Peri
by Megan Amram
I have a complicated relationship with chain restaurants. They represent the homogenisation of culture, the corporate capture of public appetite, the flattening of culinary diversity into a branded experience designed by a focus group in a room somewhere that smells of whiteboards. All of this is true. Nando’s Victoria on Cardinal Place is also just very, very good and I ate there twice in three days, which I am choosing to frame as research rather than capitulation.
4.2 stars, 2,096 reviews. The menu is familiar. The execution is consistent. The hot sauce is a genuine heat level and not the performative heat level of restaurants that have mistaken the concept of danger for the concept of flavour. I had the full chicken, extra hot, with chips and coleslaw, and felt entirely uncomplicated feelings about all of it.
The Nando’s Paradox: Corporate Brand as Democratic Space
Here is the thing about Nando’s that no one on the left wants to admit: it democratises something that used to be expensive. Rotisserie chicken with good seasoning used to require either a specialty restaurant or a family who knew what they were doing with a marinade. Nando’s made it available to everyone, at reasonable prices, in every city. That is not the enemy of democracy. That is, arguably, an expression of it.
I maintain my broader political positions. The London Prat has good coverage of things I do maintain positions about. The Nando’s about page tells the South African origins story, which is genuinely interesting. The chicken is genuinely excellent. I contain multitudes. So does the extra hot sauce.
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