Portuguese woman disappointed after trying Nando's in UK but everyone's pointing out same flaw

A Portuguese woman was left unimpressed when she visited Nando's in the UK, but many people pointed out one thing.

In a video posted to TikTok the woman, who uses the handle @milzzjo, can be seen popping out for a cheeky Nando's with a friend.

The pair say they are Portuguese people who are there to sample some 'Portuguese' food.

And from their faces in the video neither of them appears to be particularly impressed by what is on the plate in front of them, implying that - despite having the Portuguese rooster on its logo - Nando's is about as Portuguese as Germany.

Some people took to the comments to share one issue they had with the pair's reaction to Nando's.

Nando's is hugely popular in the UK (Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

This is that Nando's is a South African company, and not actually Portuguese.

One wrote: "It’s South African, that’s why. It’s Portuguese style grilled chicken, but it’s not specifically Portuguese food."

Another posted: "Maybe because it’s South African?", while a third said simply: "Nando's is South African."

While this is technically true, the full context behind this - as is often the case - is actually a bit more complicated than that.

To answer this we need to have a history lesson, so buckle up.

Nando's was founded in South Africa by Fernando Duarte, from Portugal, and Robert Brozin from South Africa.

While it's true that Nando's is a South African company, the main dish which it serves is Peri-Peri chicken, which is not a South African dish.

Nando's is famous for its peri peri chicken (Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images)

This is a dish which uses a specific kind of pepper which was first cultivated in former Portuguese colonies in southern Africa before it spread throughout the Portuguese Empire, which included territory from Brazil over to Goa in India.

Peri-Peri sauce saw these chillis combined with condiments, which could then be used as a dip or to marinade meat before cooking.

Nando's is famous for serving a variation of this, with the original recipe seeing a whole chicken spatchcocked and marinaded before being cooked over charcoal - delicious!

So with the question of whether Peri-Peri chicken is Portuguese food, the answer is that it's complicated, and also closely tied into Portugal's long colonial past.

It's Portuguese food not in the sense that it was invented in Portugal, but in that it could be said to be the result of Portuguese colonisation in Africa.

Then again, who are we in the UK to point fingers in those terms when our national dish is chicken tikka masala?

With such shared histories it's perhaps little surprise that Nando's Peri-Peri chicken is so popular in the UK.