Nandos is great but this new place just about Shwings it!

Nandos has been around since I was a teenager and will continue to do so for many years. It covers so many audiences. 20 - 40 somethings hungover that need an easy, delicious recovery whilst being able to leave the house for some fresh air. Nandos. Secondary school kids on their lunch break that want to spend their parents.... I mean their own money. Nandos. A quick, easy and hearty pre-drink meal. It's all there.

So what is so appealing about Nandos? 

If you don't know what Nandos is about then you have  either lived under a rock or do not have one in your country. It is finger licking, grilled chicken with varying levels of peri-peri spice from the beautiful land of Portugal. Not only that, but you get peri-peri chips, Olives and the infamous custard tarts should you wish to spoil yourselves after a causal meal. For those that are also after value for money, it's dead cheap too! I have dined at Nandos for many years and it is a strong, reliable and easy choice with little to no competition in the League of Chicken Greatness......until now.

Ladies, Gentlemen, Transgenders, Binaries, Fluid somethings. Enter Shaaaaaawwwwwiiiiinnngs. Or as it properly named. Shwings.

I came across Shwings browsing through Just Eat when I was looking for a suitable Cheat Day meal and I thought why not. It's Chicken, it's new, it's priced low and it has Portuguese Spatchock chicken. So I ordered a half Spatchock Chicken, crispy Kale, carrots and a brownie (Gluten Free). The order arrived in 30 mins in a brown bag with each bit of food separated by a cardboard box. I opened the Chicken box and you could smell this cooked rooster was going to taste clucking amazing. And my god was it! I'm not even religious!

What separates Shwings from Nandos are suttle improvements that adds an extra 5% of flavour to really enhance your experience. But for me there are 3 things that Shwings have done to raise the bar.

1) The Skin. I love the taste of a nice bit of grilled or barbecued chicken skin. It is crispy, it is a bit charred, it has the chicken flavour and it just adds value. Nandos has this done well and I have never had any complaints. But what Shwings does better is it firms up the skin a bit more so that it does not pull away completely from the chicken. There is also a slightly thinner layer and more of it, so you get the best of meat and the skin at the same time. It's absolute genius.

2) The meat. I can't write this without feeling a little dirty but it is perfectly moist and tender. Not dripping with grease but just perfect. Too much right? Nandos always has those little sections of the chicken that is a bit too dry. But Shwings just had it all right. It was perfect. Then when you mix it in with the skin too..... Damn... Damn... Damn.

3) Portions - My first Shwings experience forced me to go back. It was like that bird at Uni who you pulled one night, had a great shag but neither of you were ready for a relationship. So you became "cluck buddies". Well I had 2 of these... Metaphorically..with Nandos and Shwings. Except I wanted to take things to the next level with Shwings after I got to know them better. So I went in and got the whole Spatchock chicken. I ended up with a quarter chicken more than what I get at Nandos, more meat and all of portions were cooked to perfection. Jackpot.

So by now you're probably hungry (or horny. Shame on you) and are wondering why you can not find Shwings on Just Eat or Deliveroo? Well, sadly Shwings is only available in Chelmsford at the moment. However, I am more than happy for you to come all the way here and join me for an Instagram Live Feed (pun fully intended) of the best grilled chicken experience of your life.

Thank for you reading and sorry, not sorry for making you jealous.