britishers -- tell me about WIMPY BARS and their shitty burgers

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OK, tell me about Nando's in London pls (I can't tell if the comments above are ironic). My sister reckons they're great, but her taste isn't always to be trusted.

All the Nando'ses I've seen in Glasgow are in the car parks next to shopping malls, multiplex cinemas or bowling alleys a la Frankie & Benny's and are 100% without soul (I've only eaten in the one at Glasgow Fort, though).

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Who on earth would order a lime milkshake?

Most of the characters in Neighbours seem to love them.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Nando's just seem sort of cheerfully seedy to me in a way that Hamburger Union et al are not.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link

i've never been in a Nando's, it's just never appealed - assume it's crap for some reason. ditto Masala Zone.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:10 (seventeen years ago) link

We went to Nando's in Fulham Road once.

The food was cold.

I haven't returned.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Nando's is beloved of primary school children, which I have always taken to be indicative of its place on the lower rungs of gastronomic pleasure.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link

The food was OK, to be fair. It's just that the place was parked next to a giant ASDA Home store.

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Heh, and a girl at the next table's two sides were rice and chips (=2 veg in Glasgow).

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

I just read this thread, hoping against hope that the Union St. Wimpy's still existed, even though I was about 95% sure it didn't anymore. I think the last one left in town was the Ingram (? Modern Art Museum, whatever) and was sad to see it go. I loved going to Wimpy's, and occasionally stopped in for a burger. For some reason I preferred it to all other fast food chains, and never went to a McDonald's or a Burger King.

The other night I was drunk and had a burger in McDonald's for the first time in a very long while, and it was AMAZING. My American desire for disgusting fast food is hard to supress.

― Gukbe, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Nando's is sort of the Pizza Hut of chicken restaurants - I've never been because I assume it's shit.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:54 (seventeen years ago) link

That's KFC Matt.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Can't do normal American burgerfood any more, it all sinks to the bottom of my stomach like an giant ROCK.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link

(I am talkin about the fastfood chains I mean)

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:58 (seventeen years ago) link

even though I probably only went to it about three times in three years (OMG so hungover howdowecureit? BUCKET O'CHICKEN!), I miss the KFC on Byres Rd. I guess the street is too posh for it now. I don't have any fast food chains within reasonable walking distance!

― Gukbe, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:00 (seventeen years ago) link

if i eat mcdonalds/burger king now - usually when i haven't eaten in 12 hours and am about to pass out - i guarantee i will have apocalyptic shits within 2 hours. i lived off that crap when i was younger - what has happened to me?

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link

there was some commentary on nando's on a similar thread the other day. i haven't heard a single bad thing about it -- such is the company i keep.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link

As Ben Elton used to say when he was funny, you might as well flush the Big Mac straight down the toilet and cut out the middleman.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I've been to Nandos twice - nothing special at all, atmos is like TGI Friday or something - like with ice cream machines and balloons for the nippers etc (perhaps Matt's Pizza Hut thing is more OTM)! And the chicken was fairly dry and bland, not that cheap either. It's not TERRIBLE but definitely lower-average. For people who can't face up to the percieved shame of KFC/Morleys/Amir's/Dollar etc.

― Sarah, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Best thing about Nando's: hot sauce!

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I really like Nando's. Since I gave up eating sad chicken Nando's is the thing I've really missed. (OK, drunken KFC comfort eating too, which I have actually succumbed to, but I felt very bad about it.)

What I particularly miss is their chicken livers in a roll with hot sauce.

xpost Sarah you are insufficiently bourgeois :( I agree their actual chicken qua chicken isn't all that tho.

― Groke, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link

The Nandos in Brum isn't too bad at all. And, yes, the kids loved it. The only other thing I know about them is that they say all their chicken is halal.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh wait - this just coming in...[Removed Illegal Link]

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, it was to a link that said 'most of their branches are halal'.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:15 (seventeen years ago) link

hey, there is still a wimpey in borehamwood! i saw it on sunday, we nearly went in.

i think wimpeys tend to be a [ahem] secondary market establishment, like peacocks and bon marche and littlewoods...

― CarsmileSteve, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

also, in gloucestershire there were Burger Stars (not star burgers) that did a cracking veggie burger and (USP at the time) had unlimited mayo/ketchup/burger sauce/garlic mayo on the counter in big tubs with squirty things on.

― CarsmileSteve, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, I thought Nando's major selling point was the Piri Piri and their invitations to see if you're hard enough to have the ultra-hot variety. I am that hard, btw. (But not man enough to actually eat chicken).

Masala Zone is pretty good, I think.

My sub-£5 burger today - a ChiliVeg from RedVeg. £3.25, I think. That seems outrageously expensive now I've typed it out. Back to the £1.80 sushi tomorrow.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

I love the ChiliVeg!

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link

KFC is too downmarket to even be Pizza Hut. Also Nando's isn't quite poncey enough to be analogous to Pizza Express.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:34 (seventeen years ago) link

And we have yet to discuss the not-entirely-unrelated horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link

lol wetherspoons curry club lol

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:36 (seventeen years ago) link

horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo

pre-match staple, that is! You can't beat a bit of overcooked lamb and a wabbit salad.

― onimo, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I have never dared to even attempt a Wetherspoons Curry Club curry. Are they as bad as I suspect?

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link

wetherspoons food isn't actively bad, it's just not particularly good.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link

we need more argentinian steak houses like they have in amsterdam

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link

what kind of expectations could you have really, for wetherspoons food.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link

It's just the idea of going to Wetherspoons to get a curry, on a specifically designated day. Because, y'know, inner city curry houses are such expensive beasts. Maybe you like a go on a fruitie before your korma?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link

Last time I was in Glasgow (1999), I noticed that the Wimpy Bar on Sauchiehall Street was completely empty. On a Saturday afternoon. When all the other nearby eateries were full. I decided to trust the locals and go elsewhere for lunch.

― mike a, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link

And we have yet to discuss the not-entirely-unrelated horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo.

they are like beermats soaked in beef fat and then burned in a deep fat fryer, and sprinkled with the absolute opposite of antacid.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link

am i imagining this, or did Wendy in the late 1980s have SQUARE BURGERS?

― CharlieNo4, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link

i had one four years ago and it was supermarket quality (because it came from the supermarket duh). (xp)

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link

You are not imagining that.
xpost

― onimo, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link

our local whetherspoons has all the charm of a run down hotel foyer in the 1980s

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:50 (seventeen years ago) link

More of a Yates man, stevie?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:50 (seventeen years ago) link

wendy's still has square burgers. it's their thing.

― lauren, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:53 (seventeen years ago) link

yo durrr

wendy's burgers are also the best thing this side of steak & shake you crazy fuckers

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

who here has most recently been to a Harvester?

only 5 years ago for me!

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link

did we even have wendy's in the UK?

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link

I haven't been to a Harvester (Hendon) in close to 10 years. I could quite fancy one now though!

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:58 (seventeen years ago) link

We did have Wendy's - there was one in the West End somewhere. But it wasn't like US Wendy's, it had table service, etc.

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I went to an away day last year at a Harvester.

― jel --, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

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