PERi-PERi is the heart and soul of Nando’s. Its story is our story. For centuries the people of Southeast Africa have used PERi-PERi to bring fire to their food. It is in Mozambique’s rich soil and blistering sunshine that the African Bird’s Eye Chilli grows into its fiery best. When Portuguese explorers arrived there, they were enchanted by its flavour. They added a squeeze of lemon and a kick of garlic and turned PERi-PERi into a very well-travelled spice. Which is how, many years later it ended up in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. One afternoon in 1987, two friends went for lunch at a humble Portuguese eatery. As their meal drew to a close, they knew they’d tasted something that had to be shared. PERi-PERi was about to make one more journey – from Rosettenville to the world.
A few centuries later, in 1987, it was the same PERi-PERi sauce that inspired Fernando Duarte to invite his buddy Robbie Brozin to a small Portuguese eatery in Rosettenville, South Africa, to try some PERi-PERi marinated chicken. In his own words, "I knew nothing about the food business, I just knew that it was the best chicken I had ever tasted."
It was an all-consuming love at first bite and the beginning of a passionate, fiery journey that changed the way people saw (and ate) chicken in South Africa. It’s a journey that continues in every Nando’s restaurant across the planet.
Today, many years later, you can find Nando’s restaurants, our delicious, addictive sauces and our world-famous grocery range around the globe. Whether this is your first time touching the fire, or you're a regular guest, we’ll always be here to fire it up and welcome you with a serving of flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken!
Bon Proveito!
A spice so nice, they named it twice, they added this fiery little number to a handful of herbs, spices, a squeeze of sun-ripened lemons and a dash of garlic to create the first ever PERi-PERi sauce. Imagine if they’d simply stayed at home? Like most family recipes, we’re not about to give ours away, but we can tell you our PERi-PERi will put fire in your belly and ignite passion in your soul. Some even say it causes an oh-so-good endorphin release. Others are convinced it’s an aphrodisiac. But… we’ll leave that for you to find out. Enjoy!
We’re so passionate about PERi-PERi, we wanted to make it our official colour. So, with a bucket of African Bird’s Eye Chillies in hand, we asked Manie Pietersen – a specialist colourist with 24 years’ experience in mixing and matching colours – to help us decide the exact colour of PERi-PERi.
He nailed it and we’ve called this colour PERi-Red!
It’s not the only colour you’ll see at Nando’s. Black plays a big role, edgy neons add pops of colour and secondary colours – which we’ve drawn from our restaurants and Southern Africa – complete the mix.
