Nandos, Park Street | The 'Beanie' Burger



Nandos, 49 Park Street, Bristol BS1 5NT | 0117 929 9263 | Sun - Thurs 11:30am - 10:30pm | Fri - Sat 11:30am - 11pm

 

To fully complete my induction into being a vegetarian, I thought it was about time I introduced myself to a vegetarian burger. And what better place to try out & talk about than Nandos? I have always been a huge lover of Nandos (especially their chips & sweetcorn), but I'd never re-visited since becoming a vegetarian, despite their (albeit small) veggie offerings. I can guess that people wouldn't be all that tempted to go to a chicken restaurant if they're a veggie, but my Dad had never been and wanted to try it out, and I liked the sound of one of their veggie burgers, so yesterday lunchtime we took a trip to the Park Street branch.

The Nandos Vegetarian menu features three different 'burgers', which come in either a burger bun, tortilla wrap or pitta bread. Mayonnaise, chilli jam and salad are free optional extras. They have the Veggie, a spicy soya and tomato burger with spring onion, green chilli and cayenne pepper; the Beanie, a cheddar cheese, chickpea and sweetcorn burger, packed with pumpkin seeds, lentils and peas and finally, a whole Portobello mushroom topped with grilled Halloumi cheese. All of their side dishes are suitable for vegetarians, and almost all (the mashed potato and coleslaw being the exception) are vegan.

 

I Ordered:

♥ The Beanie Burger; no mayo, just salad; Plain-ish Peri-Peri

♥ Regular Chips

♥ Corn on the Cob

♥ Bottomless Drink; Orange Fanta

The Beanie burger was surprisingly nice. You could definitely taste the cheese, which I enjoyed, and the texture was great, basically like a regular beef burger. The sweetcorn and pumpkin seeds gave a nice bite admist the not-quite-mushy texture.  It had a nice taste, although was definitely improved with self-added salt and ketchup. It wasn't exactly bland, but it wasn't bursting with flavour, either. My 'salad' on top was literally one slice of lettuce and one large tomato, which I wasn't particularly impressed with (I gave the tomato to my Dad) but added a nice cold, fresh contrast to the burger. I think I'm definitely going to have it in a pitta bread next time, though, purely because I prefer them to the burger roll, which I find a tad too tough. I also think that the flavour would be improved by choosing a different Peri-Peri sauce. I chose the Plain-ish one, as it's the one I always have, but might graduate to the Medium or maybe even try out the Lemon & Herb one instead. My chips and corn on the cob sides were, as usual, delicious.

 

Overall, I'm quite happy with my first ever veggie burger! I expect a lot of people will be confused over why I chose to go to a chicken restaurant whilst being a vegetarian, but the way I see it, no restaurant is going to continue offering vegetarian options unless people actually order them! And I thought that trying one out and offering my thoughts might be useful to some other veggies who are considering it. Plus the Park Street Nandos is so nice - the staff are polite and helpful and the décor is really rustic and cool. It wasn't overwhelmingly busy, despite it being a lunchtime. I'm definitely going to return to this one, rather than re-visit the one in Cabot Circus. xx

 

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Disclaimer: this isn't a sponsored post, I just really wanted to share my thoughts on their vegetarian menu!