Toronto - Bay Street - James RYN Review

Finally my first Nando's in Canada! I came very close back in 2015 with a road trip to Montreal, but strangely there are no Nando's in the French-speaking parts of the country.

I had just arrived after a flight from London, and got the airport taxi to drop me right outside the Nando's, suitcase and all, since it was already just after 9pm by the time I arrived.

First impressions were that this Nando's was very similarly designed to UK branches, which I was somewhat surprised about having heard it is more fast-foody over here. Given this is my first in the country (and probably only for this trip), I won't have anything to compare to unfortunately.

Given it was quite late on a Sunday the restaurant wasn't busy at all, and I was sat quickly and ordered at the till. Seems they have a whole app and loyalty system here, but I decided not to partake given my fleeting visit. Also of note is that the server, when she heard my accent, said "oh it is just like in the UK" - nice touch!

Rather than try standard food items, I wanted to try some unique items not available in the UK. I therefore went for chicken thigh skewers, which were delicious, and very similar to the espetada concept seen in Middle East and Asian Nando's except not on the hanging piece of metal. We really should bring the skewer concept to the UK since I think they would be a big hit. On the side I went for peri-chips which were skin-on like in the USA and very nice, mac and cheese, which was very similar to the one which recently hit the menus in the UK (got me wondering which came first?!), and halloumi, which was a little over done so not as delicious as it could have been. At least they had halloumi though unlike in the Middle East and Asia where it hasn't landed yet, I expect due to local sourcing issues.

Overall very nice and got me wanting to try more Nando's in Canada!