Nando's fans scale fencing to try food at new Carlisle restaurant
Last updated at 09:15, Saturday, 19 February 2011
There’s talk that people will be camping out to make sure they are among the first to try a new restaurant when it opens in Carlisle.
Fans of Nando’s the restaurant chain that specialises in spicy chicken dishes, have already tried scaling metal fencing to get into the new eatery.
“They saw us serving some food as part of our staff training and were climbing over the fencing put up by the builders, bags of sand, everything,” said restaurant manager Chris Worsfold.
“We think we will be blown away when we open, there has been so much excitement over this.
“Everyone wants to come on opening day and we’ve heard rumours that people will camp out the night before to make sure they are the first,” added Chris, who has moved from Newcastle to open the restaurant.
Nando’s began in South Africa in 1987. The first UK outlet opened in London in 1992 and there are now more than 200 across the UK.
Loved by Tinchy and Chipmunk, N Dubz and all the other urban music stars, it’s the restaurant with street cred.
But as well as finding a Nando’s in downtown London, Birmingham or Manchester, you can walk into one in Kettering, King’s Lynn and Castleford, Ashford Moss and Merthyr Tydfil – but not Carlisle.
Not until Thursday, anyway.
Then the latest outpost in the firm’s empire opens.
Over the past few weeks, workmen have been transforming the corner site on Warwick Road and The Crescent that was Suede bar and then the Kamanga Lounge.
It now has a stripped wood and bare ironwork industrial look.
One wall is covered in woven willow, the giant metal lightshades are reclaimed from a factory, as is the wooden parquet floor.
The restaurant has recruited 24 staff from more than 500 applications.
Seven are full-time workers, including Jessica Heald who has been taken on as a griller in the kitchen.
The 20-year-old, from Carlisle, gave up her job as a care worker to be a ‘Nandocker’.
Jess, who plans to go to nursing college to become a midwife, said: “I was looking for a part-time second job, but it seemed such fun I decided to do it full-time.”
The menu is dominated by chicken dishes and it is best known for its spicy Portuguese peri-peri sauce.
Dishes range from £3.57 for Nando’s trademark 1/4 chicken peri peri to a jumbo platter for six to share that includes two whole chickens and five large side orders for £39.73.
Vegetarian dishes include bean burgers, soya burgers and roasted portobello mushroom and Halloumi cheese.
Nando’s spokesman Richard Exton said: “We’ve expanded a lot and quickly over the last 10 years and Carlisle has been a location we’ve been interested in for a number of years.
“It was about finding the right location. This is a fantastic location and it was the right time for us.”
First published at 09:16, Saturday, 19 February 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
@Fidel, who ever claimed Nandos was haute cuisine ??? perhaps you should give it a go before your food snobbery leads to a narrower world view;)and Turnip Pickers ??? seriously, who thinks he's lord of the manor here ??? ooo, pass the finger bowl and make sure my napkin is the finest silk... really ?!? pml @ you... variety is, after all, the spice of life. and make sure you don't bump into any buildings looking down your nose at everyone else
View all 29 comments on this article
Have your say
i think someone is making a mountain from a molehill. i believe all @Andrew was saying was that it will be a welcome change from the mediocre fast food we have in carlisle... no need to stoop to name calling (i.e. turnip pickers)you're letting your food snobbery show @Fidel (i.e. if mediocre is your norm)there are plenty of foods out there that were, perhaps, considered not worthy of Michelin Stars a few years ago that are now considered Haute Cuisine. please try something before you knock it, and also, please try not to judge what other people may enjoy - at least it isn't burger king et al.
Posted by Dee on 24 February 2011 at 14:42