Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Nando's Nando's Nando's

Petronas Twin TowersThis was where we (i.e. hubby and I together with hubby's younger brother and his wife) were a couple of weekends ago - right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Booked into Crown Mutiara Hotel, we were less than a 10-minute walk to Suria KLCC (also the site of the Petronas Twin Towers). Photo is my very first "live" sight of these twin towers taken on the first evening of our arrival. Reminded hubby that this was the location where they shot the movie "Entrapment" starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and he gave me this incredulous look and said, "Why would anyone even bother to remember that movie, not to mention the location?" Okay, he's not a big fan of Sean Connery in the latter's younger days and definitely not in the graying years. Me, I'm a sucker for an English accent in a deep male voice.

Back to the title of this post, those two syllables were ringing in my head before we embarked on this trip as bro-in-law is fairly fanatic about Nando's grilled chicken, making it a point to eat at Nando's everytime he comes up to KL. Sis-in-law had warned us that we would be lucky if we were only 'persuaded' to visit Nando's once during this trip as the nearest Nando's to our hotel is at KLCC (wondering if that's the real reason why bro-in-law chose this particular hotel).

As befitting a 'fan' of Nando's, bro-in-law dropped his luggage in the hotel room after checking-in and instructed us, "30 minutes, we'll meet you at the lobby, and we're hitting KLCC." No prizes for guessing that we ended up seated at Nando's within the first hour or so of our arrival in KL.
Nando's Hot
We ordered various sets, with hubby trying the grilled chicken set with Hot Sauce. I was quite amused with the little flags that were stuck onto the grilled quarter/half chicken pieces, and with camera focused on the words, I have unfortunately blurred the chicken pieces. (Never mind, a grilled piece of chicken looks like any other piece of grilled chicken.)

"HOT" "gets you in the mood" while "EXTRA HOT" is "sure to ruffle your feathers". Being the brave unthinking soul that I am, I opted for "extra hot" and regretted it halfway thru' the meal. It was truly fiery hot, and my tongue suffered temporary numbness (bad choice... could see hubby trying to stifle his sniggers). I will however state, for the record, that while my tongue had full control of its senses during the early part of meal, Nando's grilled chicken is quite delicious, juicy and tender meat with the right amount of piquancy in the sauce. Furthermore, the set meal which is a quarter of a chicken, served with two side dishes (your choice of rice, coleslaw, fries etc.), a soup (nothing to shout about) and a dessert(which was a disappointment for me - I had expected mango sorbet in a glass bowl, it came packaged as Nestle's latest mango sorbet product in a paper cup) is quite a good deal (I think it was about Rm 17).
Nando's Extra-Hot
We managed to keep our first visit to Nando's as the single one for this trip. The next time I'm in KL, I'm definitely coming back to Nando's but this time "HOT" should "get me in the mood" for a much better review of this place.

15 Comments:

Blogger slurp! said...

seems like many moons ago since i visited KL. not about to go back soon. I'm with your hubby on that twin tower thingy hehehe ... :P

Sorry, is Nando a fast food chain? looks good but do they serve other meat like lamb?

try aperture priority mode to control your DOF next time :)

12/07/2005 01:29:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

must be a 'male' thing!
I had Nando's drummed into me so much that I figured everyone kinda knew what it was - it's a restaurant franchise specializing in Portuguese-style grilled chicken (they have this really cute white rooster logo) - they used to have a franchise outlet in Singapore many many eons ago (at Marina South, if my memory serves me right). I don't think lamb is on the menu.
AND thanks for the tip!

12/07/2005 02:19:00 PM  
Blogger boo_licious said...

Cath - it's not a male thing. That day when I pointed out the skybridge to Robyn and told her abt entrapment, she was like "huh?" as she never saw the movie.

I confess that I rarely eat Nandos - think once in Bsar and once in Penang airport. Maybe I should give it another go as the chicken does look tasty even though it's blurred.

Anymore KL stories? I heard Msia's economy went up a few points as your group helped contribute to the GDP with lots of shopping.

12/07/2005 07:43:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Robyn has an excuse as she never saw the movie - still, I must admit it wasn't a oscar-grabbing movie!

We certainly did the neighbourly thing, with our car boot crammed to the hilt!

12/07/2005 09:14:00 PM  
Blogger FooDcrazEE said...

hehehehehe! did u buy their sauce ?

12/07/2005 11:13:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi foodcrazee, no, I didn't, maybe the next time around!

12/07/2005 11:26:00 PM  
Blogger Pink Elle said...

The set meal's RM11.90 which makes it an even better deal for you! :) I had a similar experience there too, except my flavouring was a wussy "Not So Brave" Hehe...

12/08/2005 03:24:00 PM  
Blogger FooDcrazEE said...

ooooh! Sue,not to worry , i love their mild peri peri too. ENough to get me perspire liao.

12/08/2005 04:04:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi sue - ur right, it was cheap, I remembered the RM16/17 cos' hubby had the 1/2 chicken set (cost a little more). If I had known how bad "extra hot" was, believe me, I would have gone for "Not so Brave"!

12/08/2005 10:26:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi eatzycath - I'm glad that I've found another Nando's fan here :) I thought you'd find it only in the UK. Can you get their sauces too? We always have one in the fridge (yes, mild one). Matthew has lived in Malaysia as his dad was working there, I'd love to visit one day.

12/09/2005 08:02:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi keiko, thanks for dropping by...yup, they sell their lovely peri-peri sauces by the bottles. You must come and visit this part of the world soon and drop in on Singapore too!

12/09/2005 09:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Omigod! I simply adore Nandos too. It used to be my favourite takeout dinner when I was an undergrad in Perth :) Back then, they had scrumptious chicken ribs too. Ooh... you've brought back memories of my fave Nandos burger which had an egg cooked sunny-side-up in it. Flashback of yolk running down to my elbows as I bit into the mildly spicy and totally delish concoction. They used to sell their sauces at Jason's Supermarket many moons ago. Dunno if they still stock them, though.

12/13/2005 05:58:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi S, seems like Nando's is quite well-known outside of Singapore - a pity they haven't considered renewing their franchise interest in our little red dot of an island!

12/14/2005 12:15:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey hey hey cat,

is the place Halal certified?

2/24/2006 07:00:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi ANON, yes, it is totally halal certified, and when we were there, saw quite a few Muslims dining there!

2/25/2006 01:10:00 AM  

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