It may come as a surprise that after working long, tiresome hours at work, many chefs enjoy the convenience of fast food rather than cooking in their home kitchens. Chef Liam Dillon, formerly a contestant on the 2021 Great British Menu and nowadays the proprietor of The Boat Restaurant in Lichfield, Staffordshire, recently declared his favourite choice when it comes to grabbing a convenient bite to eat.
British people are spoiled for choice when it comes to quick, cheap options for a meal, with many branches of popular brands such as KFC, Burger King and McDonald’s scattered around the country. But for Liam, whose restaurant has featured in the Damm Estrella top 50 Gastro Pubs list, nothing beats a cheeky Nando’s, which is at the top of his list. Nando’s is a South African restaurant chain famous for its Portuguese-style, flame-grilled Peri Peri chicken and it is a popular choice for many Brits. Nando’s chicken is marinated for 24 hours in Peri Peri before being flame-grilled and basted in a variety of spice levels — from mild to extra hot.
Liam told Sky’s Money Blog why he chose the chicken joint: “Nando’s because it’s consistent, quick and you know what you’re getting. The chicken livers are actually really underrated — full of flavour and not something you find in many chains. The peas and rice combo just rounds it out nicely.”
Nando’s was born in South Africa after two friends in Johannesburg experienced the taste of the chicken — fueled by African Bird’s Eye Chillies grown in Mozambique and inspired by the influence of the Portuguese who created the first Peri Peri sauce. This was discovered to be a fantastic baste for flame-grilling spatchcocked chicken, and the brand was born.
Since then, British culture has added an extra dimension to the offering as people across the United Kingdom have continued to flock to the much-loved restaurant. Today, there are over 450 Nando’s venues in the country and over 1,200 worldwide across 30 different nations as the chicken offering continues to make its way across the globe being discovered by new audiences.
Liam added that he was non-judgemental about what people chose to eat during a cost of living crisis.
He said: “I’m not here to decide what people eat or drink. Times are hard for everyone at the moment, we want to be an accessible and sustainable restaurant for everyone, so we welcome people coming to enjoy whatever they please at our restaurant.
“We’re trying to change as little as possible, as we want our experience to be the same for the diners who know and love what we do. Having said that, we’ve had to change our menu style somewhat to minimise our outgoings, but we have to be creative in how we do this so that the customer is still receiving the best possible experience.
“This only goes so far and like the vast majority of other businesses, we’ve had to pass some of the increase in supplies and the effects of the budget on to the consumer — we do this as little as possible, but it is necessary for us to survive.”