Being the sort of person who is far more interested in eating food than knowing anything much about its provenance, I’ve been scarfing down piri piri chicken for years and have only just learned of its Portuguese roots. Piri piri (or “pepper pepper” – so hot they named it twice) is a popular dish all over Africa, especially the former Portuguese colonies including Mozambique, as that’s one of the places where the special chilli pepper grows natively.
Piri piri chicken is also a favourite dish in the Algarve, the Portuguese holiday resort that Harry Deighton used to visit during the summer holidays, and now Harry has his own piri piri place on the Fulham Road in Chelsea. Fire and Feathers is the former City worker’s first hospitality venture, but he does have ten years’ business experience and quite a few years piri piri eating experience behind him on which to draw. Interiors studio 44th Hill were on hot form with this project, making a feature of the textured brick walls, and adding mismatched tiling and reclaimed floorboards, which are now re-purposed in the chevroned bar, tables and seating.
