So … have you heard of Eddie Kadi? He’s very funny and a great Nando’s fan!  He’s got a gig at the 02 Arena this Saturday (4^th September ) and is offering our blog readers some free tickets!  Fancy it? 

Eddie says:

“Anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook will know how much I LOVE Nandos right?!  So, on September 4th I will be headlining the O2 Arena and I want YOU, my fellow chicken-lovers, there.  Best part is we have four pairs of tickets to see this momentous and side-splitting occasion up for grabs! It’s PERI-TASTIC!!”

To get your hands on a ticket let us know your best chicken joke… post it below and we’ll let you know if  you’re a winner!

You might have heard our ads on the radio – we’re trying to encourage people to introduce a friend to Nando’s, because you never know what they might do for you!  We know how passionately our fans feel about Nando’s, only this morning we had a letter from a lady who believes our PERi-PERi sauce kicked off childbirth and she considered naming her child Nando’s (OK, she saw sense and didn’t in the end!).

But we know that we’ve got some real loyal fans who love to spread their love of Nando’s to their friends.  So…who was yours?  Who was that person back in the early days who brought the delights of PERi-PERi to your palate.  Oh yes, we can hear the conversation now – “You’re joking!  You haven’t been? I can’t believe it! Right then, we’re going to Nando’s at the weekend, you’re going to love it!”.  And we’re guessing that you probably went and you probably did love it!  We thought you might like to share who it was that introduced you to Nando’s and thank them…properly! Not just a “Cheers mate” and a manly pat on the back or even a little note with a picture of a daisy.

No, we’re talking thank them properly!  We suggested this to a friend of a friend only this weekend and he admitted, yes there was a special person in his life who introduced him to the wonder of the PERi-PERi chicken, so we fixed it for the friend to “borrow” his plane!! Check it out on YouTube … Anyway, we had such a great time (and we felt a little bit like Jim when he ‘fixed it’) that we thought we’d just ask the question – “Who introduced you to Nando’s and how would you like to thank them?” Pop them down on our facebook page and we’ll put our heads together and see if we can make some dreams come true!

Here in the office we are all super excited over our new restaurant in Dublin. It’s our second ever restaurant in the Irish City and to celebrate we have managed to get our wings on 2 pairs of tickets for Electric Picnic . . . For those of you not in the know it is Ireland’s most talked about Music and Arts Festival and we have tickets for the whole event, so make sure you leave the 3rd to the 5th of September wide open in your diary! and if you want more info, check it out here . . http://www.electricpicnic.ie/

As if the tickets weren’t enough we also have two pairs of exclusive passes to the Bacardi B-Live VIP Arena. In Bacardi’s brand new arena you will be given top VIP treatment, Bacardi have their strongest line up to date and their B-Live bartenders will also be on hand to serve up Ireland’s festival favourite- the Bacardi Mojito, The Original!

Now being the generous folk that we are, instead of passing these amazing tickets around the office (sorry guys!) we have decided to give you, our PERi-tastic blog-followers a chance to cut some shapes (that’s right, cut some shapes!) with some of the biggest acts around. Electric Picnic is a festival is kind of special, you get to live in a forest for the weekend and absorb great tunes, comedy acts and much much more. With acts such as Leftfield, Massive Attack, LCD Sound system, Mumford & Sons, Roxy Music and Two Door Cinema Club to name but a few taking to the stage, this is a can’t be missed event.

To be in with a chance of winning a weekend of music, laughs and festival filled fun on the Emerald Isle, post a little Limerick here, just a couple of lines as to why you MUST to win these tickets!!! The one that makes us cry with laughter is the winner

Well, we never would have thought that our calorie-free chocolate chilli treat was going to be such a hit, but it seems you have gone crazy for it . . . so much so that we have gone and run out of our exclusive little freebie!

But don’t worry, even if you didn’t get your chocolate chilli lip balm,  we still have lots of yummy lighter meals on our menu to help you be good, so if you are having a ‘healthy’ day and wanted a lighter meal check out our ‘Eating Well’ section here on our website for the healthier options, there really are quite a few to choose from!

We really are very sorry if you did not get your calorie free Chocolate Chilli lip balm in time, but watch this space . . . As we are doing our best to get some more!

So, we’ve just had a quick straw poll in the office and everyone here has either been on a diet in the last 6 months or certainly intends to be on a diet in the next 6 months.  OK, none of the boys are here, but we reckon we’re pretty usual of most groups of people.

We pop over to Nando’s every day for lunch (come on, we are based opposite the restaurant in Putney, it’d be rude not to!!) and we always have that debate of whether or not we’re having a ‘good’ day or we’re going to treat ourselves.  The great thing about our menu is that you can actually have things that are yummy and are healthy.  When opting for a ‘good’ day we tend to go for ¼ chicken, corn, sweet potato mash, a salad, or my personal favourite – the mushroom and halloumi pitta.  They’re all delicious and filling (so we don’t end up running for chocolate about 3pm).  We know it’s all about a matter of balance.

You can check our ‘Eating Well’ section here on our website to find out the healthiest options.  To celebrate our healthy options we’ve teamed up with our friends at beauty brand Anatomicals to give away a limited edition Nando’s Chilli Chocolate Lip balm*.  To prove that you can have your cake and eat it with a delicious calorie free chocolate treat.

If you’d like to get your hands on one, pop your details below and we’ll send you one.  (well, if you get in quick that is, we haven’t got enough for everyone in the whole world who would like a lip balm!!)

*Nando’s and Anatomicals exclusive lip balm is subject to availability and only available for a limited period, sadly we are only able to provide 1 lip balm per entry, and duplicate entries will not be accepted! UK applicants only!

Oops, our chocolate chilli lip balm is so popular we have gone and run out, Sorry!

Glenda (our Patrao) and her team at our Brighton restaurant had a great weekend taking part in the Pride parade.  Barci the cockerel accompanied the ‘Peri Peri Reigns on the Parade’ banner held by the team and offered the crowd badges and breath fresheners supplied by our friends at Anatomicals!

About 160,000 people joined the parade on the streets and for the party in Preston Park, making it the biggest the city has seen – and organisers dubbed it “the best Brighton Pride ever”.  Barci was a huge hit, everyone wanted a photo with him!

It was a great day and we were so pleased it didn’t rain on our parade!

We have been hearing all about new band The Wanted and after going straight to number 1 with their new single ‘All Time Low’ (which we love!) they seem to have worked up quite an appetite!

And it seems the only thing getting them out of their All Time Low is our infamous PERi-PERi chicken – do you like what we did there!?  Well, The boys popped into our Nando’s at Merry Hill to get their chicken fix, and apparently it isn’t the first time, they have previously  been in for a takeaway and are real Nando’s fans!

Our guys at the Merry Hill restaurant thought they were great (especially the manager Lorraine!!!)

Yay! We have only gone and blagged ourselves 2 tickets to the LED festival this August bank holiday!

And we can’t think a better way of thanking you, our loyal blog followers than by giving you the chance to go to the biggest and most exciting dance festival the capital has ever seen! Join the likes of Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Soulwax and Goldfrapp (and that is just for starters) for a clubbing paradise in Victoria Park on the August Bank holiday weekend.

To be in with a chance of winning a weekend of dance delirium tell us the best ever festival story you have – and the post that gets us rolling around the office in fits of giggles wins a pair of tickets to the amazing event.  .  . Keep it short, snappy and fun!

Lisa Smith from our Marketing Dept reviews Blood Brothers

I was lucky enough to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre on Charing Cross road on Friday night.  I say lucky because my friends and I had to practically run the whole way there having been so absorbed in our dinner at Nando’s.  Anyway – we made it with seconds to spare and were so glad we did – it was fantastic.

Blood Brothers has been running in the West End for 20 years – you might expect that it could have been a slightly tired and faded production, but it was bold and alive and held our attention throughout.  Several members of the audience were in tears as they left the theatre (it is a bit of a weepy!) and we joined most of the other members of the audience with a standing ovation.

Set in the shadows of the Liver Building the show begins with the inevitable ending of the play and the two doomed figures lay on stretchers on the stage. Despite this rather sombre beginning the show sustained energy and entertainment throughout.  The story tells of twin boys separated at birth but destiny brings them together at stages throughout their lives and ultimately their untimely end.  The most memorable performance was given by Niki Evans as Mrs Johnstone.  Her powerful vocals combined with an appropriately sarcastic tone, interspersed with emotional out bursts made the role memorable and absorbing.  We really enjoyed the performance, it was definitely one of the best West End shows I’ve seen and although it has been running for 20 years the performance felt as if it were the first night.  Definitely a must see!

We have not even reached the end of the month and already we can count the number of celeb spots in our restaurants on both hands!!

Now we know that just like us celebs need to get their chicken fix, but when Howard from Take That strolled into our Notting Hill restaurant we were all bowled over in shock!  Then last week we had a total celeb fest in Borehamwood – diners were treated to a PERi-fix prepared by the likes of Sophie Reade, Brian Belo and Nikki Grahame talk about a BB Takeover!

We certainly get enough celeb spots, but we want to hear about yours! So send in your best celebrity spot to socialmedia@nandos.co.uk before 12pm on Thursday 28^th July and the best one gets a free meal on us – bonus points for pics!!

Check out some of ours . . .