Barely a day goes by when my twitter feed doesn’t feature some celeb or sportsman telling me how much they stuffed themselves at Nando’s (the Welsh rugby team give the Cardiff branch a busy shift – those lads eat a lot of chicken). A cynic might think they receive a financial consideration for tweeting on about the place, but either way, Nando’s has managed to become that rarest of things: a fashionable chain restaurant.
One of the reasons is the peri-peri chicken, but another may be their attention to the interiors. This latest serving in Dundee’s appallingly-named Nethergate region has had the treatment from BuckleyGrayYeoman, who’ve done a few other branches including Manchester and Dublin. Chief eye-catcher at the Dundonian outlet is the tubular light installation, made from dozens of riveted metal sections. Despite the pretty bits, the restaurant has an industrial feel with its warehouse roots exposed in both the ceiling and steelwork, and there’s the ever more fashionable shipping container housing the kitchen.
Finally, to add a colourful garnish, local artist Marc Delaye has painted a 5 metre high chicken on the back wall that even the entire Ospreys front row would struggle to polish off.
Photography © Hufton+Crow
