Harry’s Place

Chains are bad because they uphold health standards and are genuinely embarrassed if ther premises look run down or their service is shoddy. That’s why people hate them. And people love boycotting South Africans. It’s like playing on old record. SOunds crackly, but feels warm.

Funny because true.

FYI there’s already a Nando’s on Kingsland High st, probably 5 mins from Church street. The turkish Kebab shops in that area are the best though - something a little more unusual. Nando’s is good though.

David T

Nowt more dangerous than a Jew with a Lute :)

Round my way, there is an unofficial boycott of the Costa. Whilst KFC and yet another subway are in the area too, they don’t seem to take away trade from the many not change chicken and sandwich places along the strip. Costa’s sole competition is a tiny greasy spoon cum Coffee shop which is now booming after locals decided they prefered to have a crap undeconstructed 70s dive rather than not. The strenght of community

The post traumatic stress disorder which waiting staff experience when serving South Africans worries me.

I went in Nando’s for the first time recently and was quite impressed. Nice food, albeit a little bit dry, and very reasonably priced.

I did have a cappuccino as well though.

Still getting my head around the girliemensch concept…

Don’t stereotype me in terms of my membership of the lute playing community, man

I’m from the Spudulike generation meself..

Another N16 blogger has reached remarkably similar conclusions to you, David T.

http://www.benlocker.com/2008/06/if-you-want-a-nandos-for-a-neighbour/#comments

Boycotting businesses is so self-regarding anyway. Getting banned from them - that’s the way forward.

Nando’s: It’s middle class fast-food (with a good line in anti-vegetarian, fuck-you-PC schtick too; “We love vegetarians: all of our chickens were that” along with Benny Hill/Bert Baxter style jokes about breasts and legs.)

Terribly English, actually…

Still, where I live, there’s aufentic Portuguese and Madeiran caffs and restaurants aplenty…. and the Wimpy Bar (It wouldn’t surprise me if the number of them in this borough is in double figures, actually) has just been restyled….back to the old red and white look, which is much better than any corporate style they have had in the meantime

Still, given the choice between a chain and a good local place, I’d always go for the latter. One pleasant thing here is that the best selling ice-cream locally ain’t Walls or whatever, but “Rossi’s Of Sunny Southend-on-Sea”.

The flavours are broad and varied - maple walnut is fantastic, butterscotch the dogs bollocks, the bitter lemon sorbet…the end of your teeth, the taste superlative, as well as their various kiosks and other outlets, they have a superb art-deco ice-cream bar on the seafront (like all good things in SoS, in Westcliff, not Southend itself, even if this tends to be denied officially)….

They are also one of the few places that do pistachio ice-cream in the UK (no zuppa inglese yet, alas) - and the quality overall is in an entirely different league from Marine Ices, say.

Here in the States, McDonald’s has reacted to ongoing public health problem of poisoned tomatoes by withdrawing all of them from it menu, for the time being. No word yet on whether this means other harmful food such as the rest of their menu will also be withdrawn!

Brr soulless.
They’re running a repeat of the 1979 general election special in real time on BBC4… Is thatcher about to croak?

Many years ago, when I was a nipper, playing on the beach with my cousins, we found an enormous dead jellyfish on the beach. We took it home (in six buckets), and eventually, it stank it’s way to freedom via the storm drain, with a lot of enthusiastic help from my mother.

And every time I go near a delicatessen, I see the bugger again, in a jar on a shelf. Reproaching me silently.
Sulking.
Whispering.

“I know who you are, and I saw what you did.”

So mainly I stick to jam and bread, or occasionally chips.

mmmm…I like Nandos, though I do worry about where they get their chickens from. I do however, like my chips with an utterly insane amount of their spice on them - I always ask for the spice shaker to be brought to the table so I can deluge them in extra spice. That stuff is more addictive than crack….

My god, Jon D - The Dimblebys have been in power for ever.

Your post reminds me of almost every post on this fine blog:

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

Was this post really worth the precious bandwidth?

Rossis is a chain though, isn’t it? I used to go to the one in Walthamstow when I was a kid, but haven’t been for years - although I passed by the Westcliffe on Sea one on the way to Neil Denny’s lovely wedding. Wasn’t there also one in Epping?

There was a stage when their ice cream wasn’t too great. It had big lumps of undissolved flavouring stuff in it.

http://www.rossiicecream.com/

That’s what I was thinking ChrisC. HP contributers, nobody really gives a fuck about your boring lives. Stick to what you do best, which is post idiotic arguments supporting the latest authoritarian kneejerk legislation from Nu Labour.

…or in the case of Graham and Palubiski, make racist comments and then suddenly forget them.

Tagnuzlsx nobody really gives a fuck about your boring comments.

Tagnuzlsx = the new sonic.

Lutes to crack the Guitar hegemon!

One day, Comrades

Your just jealous and projecting KevinG

Nando’s food may resemble what you ate in Portugal because Mozambique is a former Portuguese colony, with Portuguese as its official language (albeit a minority spoken language), and probably exports a fair number of its people as migrant workers to Portugal. Also, a lot of white Portuguese fled Mozambique back to Portugal after the 1974 coup, when the army decided it was sick of propping up the empire and pulled out quickly, and the civilians pulled out with them, but I guess they brought bits of the local culture back to the “mother country” with them.

Vintage Angela Ripon where she’s not going to jump over the counter and start dancing.
The set is a symphony in beige.

It was, indeed.

[Blockquote]I hate jazz[/blockquote]

Funny. I’ve just started hating you.

Ah–the Vortex in its heyday also had real live log fires going…..It was a great place to take the kids after school on a fractious winter afternoon.

There’s an Italian ice cream operation in the kiosk by the restaurant at Golders Hill Park; pistachio is just one of the many varieties; certainly packs in the customers day after day.

Just what is Angela Phillips on? The nearest Waitrose to N16? Wouldn’t that be Boris Johnson’s local branch up on the Holloway Road? Or have they managed to squeeze a branch in round the back of Clissold Pool?

I think a good reason to “boycott” McDonalds is their food is shit and the environment in there awful.

As for Nandos, I went there the last time in London, with my father who is South African, and the food was quite good although not spectacular. Seems an odd thing to write a whole blog post about. I tend to look askance at people who drone on about food and wax lyrical about this are that restaurant. Nice to have good grub, but not to ramble on about it.

There is a middle class preciousness about this, that is annoying, but there is another side to this. In Hong Kong for instance things are more advanced; and there is a battle is about preserving heritage and battling skyrocketing rents. Hong Kong is dominated by chains and brands. That’s fine, on one level, there is nothing wrong with the products they sell, or the good deals many give their customers. However, some ask whether its necessary that the whole place be dominated by the same chain stores. Its necessary in the sense of making as much money as possible; this is done by renting out highly efficient and identical shopping centres to huge conglomerates who are the only ones who can afford the rents.

Whilst I can see the logic of all this, I can also understand those who are concerned about preserving other forms of capitalism, heritage, local art etc, and find the uniformity of this sort of corporate development a bit stultifying. I think the argument goes a bit deeper than sneering at Guardian readers and muesli munchers.

Just wait for the forthcoming expose of motorway service areas.

When you go to a Nandos, you’ll see families from all cultural backgrounds eating together.

Which is true of many places in London, naturally, corporate and non-corporate. That’s a function of London itself.

This is all a bit of a justification for growing middle-aged in a middle-class “bohemian” village isn’t it? Such is London life.

John Wayne would have put the wagons in a circle, had a battle with the local injuns, built the church and ended the film drinking whisky as the town’s first baby was born.

You lot just move sedately from squat to Starbucks. It is a wonderful process to watch and so very English.

David T,

Nandos does indeed serve various chilli-based dishes - particularly those containing piri piri sauce - that originated in the former Portuguese colony, Mozambique, and which travelled to Portugal, in much the same way as some Indian cuisine travelled to Britain.

Portugal’s tasca (ie local neighbourhood restaurant) cuisine is still dominated by homecooking based on filling fish (principally cold water north Atlantic fish and dried-salted cod (bacalhau) which I’ve never managed to get into) and meat (mainly pork) dishes - and its own traditional surf and turf dishes (principally the mouth-watering carne do porco alentejano (ork with clams in garlic sauce, from the Alentejo region) there is often a chilli influence in some of the more touristy restaurants (partly because Brits on holiday like something that reminds them of their favourite Indian food back home).

Recommendations for your next visit:

–> giant prawns with piri piri sauce (the prawns caught off the Portuguese coast are among the best in the world and grilled with either a chilli-based or garlic based marinade, they are stunning (particularly on a hot night with a cold dry white wine);

–> carne do porco alentejano (best place for this is the atmospheric - yet slightly touristy - and legendary Bota Alta restaurant in the Bairo Alto in Lisbon. Get there by 6,30 if you want a table by 7,30 as they don’t accept reservations).

Oooh, happy memories from my years in Portugal.

A talk on gays in the Middle East with an American SWP woman with an anglo saxon surname, representing the perspective of Palestinian Trotksyites on the issue and then Nandos. You certainly know how to party, that man.

I’m with Thermaland. N16 rocks. Palestinian trots and all. I used to live there and even had a birthday party at the Vortex once. It was a cool place where I could indulge the fantasy that I was still living the student boho life, even as I struggled with the mortgage payments.

I went to Nando’s once. I had the chicken. But my new favourite restaurant is Le Restaurant Arménien in Cannes. I’ve never been, but I’m hoping to go later this month. It specialises in very badly translated Armenian dishes, such as:

The laminated ones with cheeses
The laminated ones with spinaches
The pizza pie with the meat
Pellets of oxen to grasses
The national dish
The laminated one with nuts
The cake vermiculations almonds & flowers of orange trees
Crunching with sesame

And The salad of believed cabbage heart, which I think was a short story by Edgar Allen Poe.

I see Bill has given my own Nando’s argument a plug. Ta.

David T, though - you shouldn’t be so easy to satisfy when it comes to drink. Clissold Wines is indeed better than Oddbins, but nothing but the extra 10 minute walk up to Highbury Vintners is good enough for me…

I see Bill has given my own Nando’s argument a plug. Ta.

David T, though - you shouldn’t be so easy to satisfy when it comes to drink. Clissold Wines is indeed better than Oddbins, but nothing but the extra 10 minute walk up to Highbury Vintners is good enough for me…

Portuguese food and the portuguese language are portugal’s most important cultural patrimony (sorry my english is really bad today…). I can say without exageration that they are the essence of our national identity.

of course, the best place to eat it is at a portuguese home, provided that the host/hostess is a good cook. They not easy to find, and then you have to get invited … most people cook very bad, of course i am not one of them :-)

david bruno:
Bota Alta is a really nice place. it’s not turistic, it’s autentic. Turists go there because it is autentic. Most of the clients are locals and we really get mad when turists invade it because it is a small restaurant… fortunatelly turists love to dine early, while we prefer to have dinner latter.

as a lisboner, I cannot stop getting amazed how this city has the hability to retain its autenticity despite the fact that is is constantly under pressure.

(now i am getting nostalgic… Bota Alta was my father’s favorite restaurant: I should go there just to matar saudades…it’s better to just leave the comment here before i start crying, we portuguese tend to get emotional with small things)

Why are you particularly obsessive at the moment, David, about the RCP?

I signed the petition, partly because I wasn’t in the mood for an argument, and partly cos there’s already a perfectly good piri-piri place on Church St already. There is a slight subtext of ‘keep the great unwashed off our lovely street’ going on with the campaign though

I’ve nothing against Nando’s itself - apart from the fact that Mrs Pangloss tends to smother my ‘bland’ cooking in their sauce (available at all good supermarkets). Don’t know if you’re right about a lot of them being halal - I’m only aware of one, out Willesden/Queens Park direction, where half the Muslim kids in London get taken on their birthday.

Agreed - Nando’s rocks. However I’d love to know more about the talk you were at about being gay in the Middle East!

tagnzzz so far around 47 people give a f-. The clue is in the keyword at the bottom right.

in the 80s I held a children’s birthday party in SA and a small boy informed me he and his sister couldn’t eat any of the sweets. Although they were Muslim, it wasn’t a Halal issue (people weren’t that bothered in those days) but as he explained, because they were Rowntrees which was involved in a dispute with the black unions. Ironic that, given Rowntree’s record in the UK.

At the risk of turning very Grim Up North London, yes Ben, Highbury Vinters is fantastic. Great range of beers too.

Hi Sarah Franco,

“it’s not turistic, it’s autentic. Turists go there because it is autentic. ”

Yes, I know. I only meant it was ‘touristy’ in the sense that tourists actually do go there. But, you are right, it is still very tipico.

Sou ingles mas passei dois anos inesque

Sarah Franco,

sou ingles mas passei dois anos inesqueciveis em Portugal. Tenho tambem saudades.

Peco desculpa das quaisquer palavras erradas — eis a primeira vez que escrevo em portugues desde 10 anos.

Um abraco para as suas lagrimas.

I was more of a KFC man myself, until chicken got a little too cheap that I started wondering exactly what I was putting in my body. Since then I moved onto lamb kebabs (not Doner) which proved to be particularly good value across North London. The meat tends to be transparently fresh, is freshly cooked for you, and usually you can get an double serving of meat for less than one additional pound.

There’s a great little place in Kentish Town at the junction of Fortess Road and Highgate Road - I can’t remember which of those roads it’s on, but it’s on the east side, and most likely on Highgate Road. The staff are friendly and generous with the salad. Don’t get the chips: they’re not that great, and besides, you’ve got a large kebab - what do you need chips for?

I go to Nandos because they make one of the best veggie burgers available.

I’m also pleased that a South African chain is doing well. I hope Spur does just as well.

I have eaten at a MacDonalds only once. It was when the first one opened in Johannesburg. It was a novelty. I had a packet of chips and what might best be described as ‘an apple desert’. It didn’t rock my world - but then I’m a vegetarian. Later I was disgusted by the MacMurder trial and have avoided them ever since.

I quite like Nandos, always thought they were Portuguese though, that’s what they advertised themselves as when they had a campaign a couple of years back, although come to think of it, it was during the Eng-SA test series.

Pretty sure all Nandos are Halal, at least that’s what my Muslim friends seem to think anyway. Incidentally, anyone who thinks Nandos is fast food for middle class people obviously hasn’t been to the Nandos in Whitechapel or Finsbury Park.

On N16, my dad, who worked for the SS part of the DHSS in Hackney back in the early 80s still reacts in horror when I say I’m going out in Stoke Newington. I don’t think he can quite believe how much things have changed since then, especially since he hasn’t lived in London for over 10 years.

Actually, the SS part of the DHSS doesn’t sound that good does it? Although some of his cases might agree with it. It means he worked for social security ie benefits.

Pangloss, the peri-peri place on Church Street is itself part of a chain, albeit one smaller than Nando’s. I find it difficult to understand why Nando’s is the thin end of the wedge, given the other chains on Church Street, not forgetting The Lion (a Massive Pub), Ladbrokes, Savills and Next Move.

And there is no reason to suspect that Church Street will become ‘Clone Britain,’ to use a phrase I’ve seen in one or two blogs. The properties on Church Street are too small and awkward for most chain stores, and even if they weren’t, Stoke Newington High Street and Green Lanes are hardly examples of ‘Clone Britain.’ Hooray for more diversity in Nappy Valley.

Wardytron -

If you like that sort of thing, try some of these menus -

http://www.engrish.com/category_index.php?category=Menus

I had my lute restrung at the local violin makers.
Now there’s a new euphemism!

I’ve been doin’ Nandos for 15 yrs. I’ts really very good indeed…make mine half a peri-peri chicken, extra hot, with wedgies and a freshly squeezed Windhoek.

My favourite dish on a greek menu was “Cuttle Lamp” (lamb cutlets)

Why are you particularly obsessive at the moment, David, about the RCP?

They’re playas.

Cheers Hasan, didn’t know that. Never seen another one of those chicken shops.

I always mean to shop more on Green Lanes - it’s got the best of both worlds. And it’s got Hot Nuts.

SOC, re halal, Mrs Pangloss (who knows rather more about these things than I do) seems pretty certain that they’re not all halal - maybe they used not be, but are now. Might check the Stroud Green Road one on the weekend, out of interest.

There is a blatant (and halal) Nando’s rip off on the Whitechapel end of Brick Lane. Can’t remember what it’s called now, but it was something quite funny.

Nandos is the only restaurant in England that I have eaten at more than once.

Oh, talking of South African resteraunt chains. I heard from a friend who visits THE Regime regularly from the UK, that there is a Spur steak house in Belfast….County Down that is, not Mpumulanga!

Just had a look at the Nando’s site. They give information on halal or not. Apparently, the Stroud Green one is, but the Upper Street one isn’t.

So there you are.

“There is a blatant (and halal) Nando’s rip off on the Whitechapel end of Brick Lane. Can’t remember what it’s called now, but it was something quite funny.”

Pandoo’s

I try to avoid Halal restaurants, I really don’t like the idea of ritually slaughtered meat.

“The laminated ones with cheeses”

While on the Lune de meil we ate at a restaurant in Sarlat that had translated the house’s own take on sauted fois gras as;

“the chefs own fat liver”

We didn’t partake though.

They’ve also got something called “The Broken Corn Salad”, which sound more like an episode of Seinfeld than a restaurant dish.

Do you like game?

Is that a general question, David?

yes, yes I do.

Venison, rabbit, duck, all yes please. Not so keen on pheasant, although last year on the first day of the pheasant season I made a point of wearing a tweed jacket. Because that’s what you wear in to work in SE1, isn’t it.

Yep, any of the above, and I’ll add pigeon to the list. Although I do sometimes find venison a bit too, erm, gamey.

I was just wondering whether objections to ritual slaughter might extend to that… for Nick, primarily.

Wardy - did you wear plus fours?

Wow thanks for the Spurs info, NickSA. Am going to Belfast soon and will make a beeline for it. We once trekked all the way to Staines from NW London to visit a Spur, but going to Belfast will be a lot more pleasant. Looking for the address, I found a 2005 SA Independent review of Spurs, which said with SA eating becoming more sophisticated, no one would admit patronising Spur any more.

No, I was worried I might look like a git, although obviously not worried enough to take off the tweed jacket. I did see someone on my street a few months ago carrying a brace of pheasant, which I thought was quite flash as an accessory.

david bruno:

fico comovida: geralmente os ingleses que vêm a Portugal não se dão ao trabalho de aprender o português, incluindo umas boas centenas que cá vivem durante muitos anos.

resultado: o melhor do país passa-lhes ao lado… felizmente que consigo foi diferente.

“I really don’t like the idea of ritually slaughtered meat.”

How do you feel about ritually stirred coffee? Or ritually chaffed wheat?

Schmuel, why do you get banned from everywhere, then?

Just had a look at the Stop Nandos Facebook group. Fucking hell. I’m going up there on opening day and having a whole chicken, like my friend Bruno does. In fact, I’m going to invite Bruno up and buy him a chicken. Then we’ll get pissed on Super Bock and stand on the street and abuse them. Fuck em, fucking Cameron-worshipping ‘proud to be middle class’ tossers. Every last one.

Avoid the Nandos on Kilburn High Road, poor lighting, poor quality chicken and small inconsistent portions.