Nando’s PERi-PERi – Casual Portuguese Comfort Food
By Jessica Lewandowski
On a Friday evening, myself and my favorite food buddy stopped in at Nando’s PERi-PERi in Naperville. If you’ve never been, Nando’s PERi-PERi is a one-of-a-kind casual restaurant that serves Portuguese chicken dishes from South Africa. The menu is almost entirely chicken (there are vegetarian options, too), and guests can choose a heat level of PERi-PERi sauce to have their meal cooked in.
For drinks, I ordered a glass of Cara Viva White from Portugal – a crisp and light wine that paired perfectly with chicken. My foodie dude ordered himself an IPA.
We started with an order of 6 PERi-PERi Wings in the Extra Hot Sauce. The two of us are huge chicken wing aficionados, and we gave these babies a stamp of approval. The wings were grilled, not fried, so they were crispy with a good, charred flavor under the sauce. Speaking of the Extra Hot Sauce: although we have a high tolerance for spicy foods, we definitely suggest going spicy with the dishes at Nando’s. The sauce builds a slow burn, but you won’t lose any taste buds. In fact, the flavor is actually quite wonderful- peppery and a little citrusy! We even kicked up the heat by dropping some Extra Extra Hot Sauce onto our wings. In our opinion, the hot sauces at Nando’s could go on anything.
Our entrees included the Chicken “Burger” with a side of Macho Peas and the Boneless Chicken Breast with PERi Chips (fries). The “burger” was really plump, and had layers of tomato, pineapple, arugula and cheddar cheese. We ordered it with the Lemon and Herb Sauce, which was a great choice because it didn’t necessarily change the flavor combination of pineapple and cheese. Our side of Macho Peas was totally authentic: peas mashed with parsley, mint and chili. If that sounds like your thing, definitely order the Macho Peas at Nando’s because you really won’t find that at other restaurants.
We ordered the Boneless Chicken Breast in the Mango Lime Sauce, which immediately became our favorite for the evening. We expected to get a huge flavor blast of fruit and citrus, but we were pleasantly surprised to taste a well-harmonized combination of mango and lime. The PERi chips were perfect for dipping into that Extra Extra Hot Sauce!
My food dude was eyeing the dessert menu, so the last dish we ordered was the Chocolate Spoon Cake. It had layers of chocolate cake, sandwiched together by a chocolate pudding-consistency filling. If you love gooey, moist chocolatey desserts, go for the Chocolate Spoon Cake!
Nando’s PERi-PERi is a great place to sit down for a bite to eat with family or friends after a long day of shopping or socializing, especially in an adorable shopping/dining district like downtown Naperville. It’s easy to enjoy the South African art adorning the restaurant’s walls while biting into a masterfully grilled Portuguese meal.
Nando’s PERi-PERi is open Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.-11p.m. There are six locations in Illinois, as well as numerous locations across Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland.