A South African Chain
More Journeys Are Yet To Come
Bienvenidos! For those of you who are visiting for the first time, welcome. For those of you who are steadfast supporters, thank you for always providing your unremitting boost of reassurance. Now, as many of you may know, I’ll be traveling to Malaysia in less than a week. I’ll be visiting Malaysia for several weeks, but that is not what I am most excited about. I am looking forward to attending the World Vegan Day Malaysia 2018 event, which is scheduled to take place on 10-11 November 2018. The event is said to have plenty of local vegan stakeholders, and even a few from abroad. As previously mentioned in last week’s post, I’ll be bringing you along with me via my blogs and vlogs. It’ll be my first time vlogging; so, please bear with me while I undertake this exciting journey. As an added note, I will be traveling to South American during the second quarter of 2019. Thus, stay tuned for that exciting expedition as well.
Traveling Provides Exceptional Experiences
Looking up at the pic above, I would imagine that you have figured out by now that this blog will entail the food eatery, Nando’s. Growing up in New York City and doing some traveling within the country, I’ve never come across a Nando’s restaurant. This could very well be because they only exist in three states, Maryland, Illinois, Virginia, and Washing D.C. Nando’s is a South African restaurant chain, which had its start in the late 1980’s. However, Nando’s did not open its U.S. Branches until sometime in 2008. I was long gone by then and was working overseas. My first genuine encounter with Nando’s was actually in Malaysia. At that time, I was not on a plant-based diet. As many of you may know, I only started my vegan journey in July 2017. At any rate, I was happy to learn that there were several items on the menu that could be veganized, and so I take this opportunity to introduce you to them. Let us begin on our quest.
Let’s Start Out With An Appetizer
To bring you this blog, I had to visit Nando’s on two different occasions. Why? Well, because I couldn’t possibly eat all the items I wanted to introduce you in one sitting. However, it’s not like anyone had to twist my arms to get me to revisit this restaurant. To begin with, the restaurant’s atmosphere is quite lovely. The restaurant’s style is not too extravagant, but it definitely catches your attention. First, we started out with the Hummus and Peri-Peri Drizzle. I didn’t, however, use the sauce as I usually like my hummus with only a bit of olive oil. The hummus is served with warm strips of pita bread, which you can see in the pic down below. I must say, the hummus is not the best tasting in the world; nevertheless, it is unquestionably edible. I’ve undeniably had lousy hummus in the past living in the Middle East. Yet, this hummus doesn’t come close to being terrible. Thus, you can consider trying it on your next visit.
Hummus with Warm Pita Bread Strips
Sharing Is Caring
Now, I don’t know if any of you split your meals with your spouses, but I like to share my meals with my wife because it allows me the opportunity to enjoy the most out of my meals. Thus, I ordered the Quinoa salad, which is made with sweet potato, avocado chunks, sweet baby plum tomatoes, chickpeas, cucumber, mixed salad leaves, and a good sprinkling of Peri-seeds and grains. This salad usually comes with feta cheese so remember to ask them to remove it from the order. My wife, on the other hand, had the Veggie Wrap with roasted veggies topped with spicy Peri-Peri sauce and corn on the cob for her sides. The wrap was nicely toasted and stuffed with couscous salad, pickled red onions, eggplant, hummus, and Nando’s signature spicy red pepper dip. The salad was nice, but I truly enjoyed the veggie wrap more than I did the salad. The wrap was bursting with tons of flavors and was incredibly fulfilling.
Quinoa Salad
Veggie Wrap with Roasted Veggies and Corn on the Cob
Veggies Are Always Great
On my next trip to Nando’s, I decided to have the veggie burger. The burger is usually topped with bird’s eye chili jam and tangy yogurt sauce, but I opted out of them both and decided to have it with Nando’s spicy Peri-Peri hot sauce. Now, before I started on my plant-based journey, I used to love burgers. I wasn’t really a meat eater, but I definitely enjoyed a burger at least 2-3 times a month. Since becoming vegan, I haven’t craved any meat at all until I tried the Beyond Meat Burger. Then, suddenly, I wanted to have burgers again. Thus, I never miss an opportunity to eat a plant-based burger whenever I can have one. As I have written in past blogs, I absolutely love French fries as well. So, of course, I had this reasonably tasting veggie burger with the Peri-Peri wedges. The wedges were nicely seasoned and well cooked. Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Remember, eat to live a stronger, healthier life and never, ever live simply just to eat. Adios!
Veggie Burger with Peri-Peri Wedges
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