Chas Newkey-Burden's Blog, page 13

Nando's, why do we love you so?

I came rather late to the Nando’s party. The chain first appeared in Britain in 1992 and over the last 10 years in particular it has become a huge and growing hit. I had my first Nando’s last summer, but how I have made up for it since.

I think it would be fair to say I’ve become obsessed with Nando’s. I’m far from alone in the level of my obsession. While Pizza Express has customers, and Wagamama has fans, Nando’s has devotees. (Take a look at the Rate Your Nandos website and feel the love in the room.) Though its peri-peri chicken is magnificent, I think the chain’s cult-like appeal centres less around the food than the overall experience.

For the uninitiated, I shall describe it. You arrive, are allocated a table and handed a menu. When you’re ready, you go and place your order at the counter and pay. You collect your own cutlery and pour your own drinks. A waiter brings you the food when it’s ready.

This is what’s known in the industry as a ‘mixed service’ model. Well, it works for me. I like the slice of responsibility this system hands to the customer and it just feels so liberating to be able to leave a restaurant as soon as I’ve finished eating, rather than having to grab the attention of an overworked waiter so I can pay.

Here’s another industry term, the umbrella of which Nando’s falls under: ‘fast casual dining’. It’s true, Nando’s occupies a middle ground. It is neither a McDonald’s, nor a ‘proper’ restaurant, but somewhere brilliantly in the middle.

A lot of Nando’s customers are, I suspect, people who either cannot afford to eat in ‘grown-up’ restaurants or who feel, rightly or wrongly, they would not be accepted in them. For instance, it’s popular among young Muslims, and black or mixed-race kids.

Yet the Nando’s customer base is a melting pot of races, genders and ages. Our race is Nando’s. Our gender is Nando’s. We are Nando’s years’ old.

Each outlet is our embassy in whichever neighbourhood we find ourselves. Nearer to home, for me there are three branches within walking distance: one in Windsor and two in Slough. I nearly always go to Slough for Nando’s. For if Nando’s is anything, it is Slough.

Another awesome thing about the company is how jolly and motivated its staff always seem. It has won industry awards, including the Sunday Times ‘best place to work’ gong. That comes across in the atmosphere of the branches. Also, it gives a 20% discount to police, ambulance staff and fire services workers – a fact that is admirable, reassuring and slightly sexy all at once.

I said the food mattered less than the experience but the food is delicious. Fiery chicken dishes at affordable prices (you can comfortably eat there for under a tenner). The menu is simple, yet it empowers the customer: we have to specify how hot we want our chicken.

My regular order is Chicken Butterfly (hot) with peri chips and corn on the cob. I always grab a bottle of garlic peri sauce for the table, which I introduce to my plate only late in the game. To drink I have Coke with lots of ice, and I regularly top myself up throughout the meal. Occasionally I switch to Fanta for the final glass.

Then I stagger out onto the street, in a chilli-fired daze of euphoria. A relative of mine described it as a ‘Nandos coma’. Long may they knock us out.

Do you love Nando’s. If so, why?

Follow me on Twitter. Sponsor me to run the Windsor Half Marathon for Colel Chabad.

Nando’s, why do we love you so?

I came rather late to the Nando’s party. The chain first appeared in Britain in 1992 and over the last 10 years in particular it has become a huge and growing hit. I had my first Nando’s last summer, but how I have made up for it since. I think it would be fair to [...]

Music Monday

When I interviewed Matisyahu in 2010, I asked him if he’d any plans to write a song about the Baal Shem Tov. He said he did and, sure enough, on his new album Sparkseeker, there is just such a track. However, it is a different song on the album which really caught my imagination. Live [...]

Coming up roses

Remember when Tal gave me that amazing present last month? I got another great present today. My friend and sometime co-author Julie gave me a pendant made out of a Hamas rocket. Confused? Then let me introduce you to the organisation Rockets Into Roses. It sells stunning, hand-sculpted products which have been fashioned out of actual [...]

Turkey's alight

We already knew that Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was both a fraud and a hypocrite when he described Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara as “state terrorism”.

But given the ongoing horror in Turkey, rarely has there been a clearer congregation of pots, kettles, stones and glass houses.

TURKISH REBEL IN 90 SECONDS! from Memento Mori on Vimeo.

Turkey’s alight

We already knew that Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was both a fraud and a hypocrite when he described Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara as “state terrorism”. But given the ongoing horror in Turkey, rarely has there been a clearer congregation of pots, kettles, stones and glass houses. TURKISH REBEL IN 90 SECONDS! from Memento [...]

A call to humanity

Muslim leaders from across the globe visited Auschwitz recently and prayed for those who were killed during the Holocaust. The imams, visiting as part of a Holocaust awareness program, came from countries including Bosnia, India, the Palestinian Authority, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the USA. “What can you say? You’re speechless. What you have [...]

Do not give charity!

Why on earth did I write that headline for a post asking you to sponsor me for my Windsor Half Marathon? I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I’d like to tell you about the work Israel’s oldest charity does for widows and orphans.

Since its foundation in 1788, the charity Colel Chabad has worked to alleviate the material and emotional suffering of Israel’s poor, many of whom are widows and orphans. In fact, Colel Chabad has an entire division dedicated to widows and their children. Their approach is holistic: taking into account the material and emotional needs of hundreds of orphaned families.

The charity provides tutors for hundreds of orphans and also social workers who monitor the domestic situation of each family. As appropriate, Colel Chabad also provides widows and orphans with: cash grants, regular food deliveries, holiday clothing vouchers, career counseling and retraining, a big brother or sister, psychological support, youth clubs, music lessons, and driving lessons when a license is needed for employment.

As with all of the charity’s work, all of the above is carried out with the aim of maintaining and enhancing the dignity of the family.

One of my favourite sayings of the Chabad Rebbe is this:

Do not give charity.

Giving charity means being nice and giving away your money. But who says it is your money to begin with? It is money put in your trust, to be disbursed for good things and for others when they will need it.

Change your attitude. Instead of doing what is nice, do what is right. Put the money where it belongs.

Not ideal words to preceed an appeal for sponsorship. Or are they? I’ll see, I suppose. I’m running the Windsor Half Marathon to raise fund for Colel Chabad. If you’d like to sponsor me, you can do that here.

Do not give charity!

Why on earth did I write that headline for a post asking you to sponsor me for my Windsor Half Marathon? I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I’d like to tell you about the work Israel’s oldest charity does for widows and orphans. Since its foundation in 1788, the charity Colel Chabad has [...]

Meet a Muslim person

Russell Brand is such an intelligent writer. When he wrote about the tragic deaths of Jade Goody and Amy Winehouse he captured the moments perfectly He has now penned a piece of clarity about the Woolwich murder and ugly reactions to it, which you can read here. As he points out, it is madness, not [...]