Bucket Scene: Senhor Peri Peri

This past week I was invited to sample something new to KZN, but has been around in Johannesburg and Cape Town for some time now, Senhor Peri Peri. The franchise just recently opened the doors to it's first branch in the province, located in the food court at the brand new Cornubia Mall. Having been sent some of their delicious sauces to sample a few weeks ago, I still went to the store with a thought in my mind, wondering how much better would this be to the other popular Peri Peri chicken franchise in the country. I suppose it's only natural for one to compare but after sampling the food, soaking in the experience and chatting to the store manager, it was evident that although what you see on the menu might be similar, it was quite different and unique in its own way. 

First up, the decor, seriously love what they done with the space, it's a nice mixture of the Portuguese and Kasi cultures, with art reminiscent of both. Giving you that feeling that this is a true South African franchise. The lantern style light fittings are quite a nice feature over the dinning and ordering area. The Menu is extensive, offering more than what you would normally get at a similar type of eatery with grilled prawns, prego beef strips, macon(mutton) and vegetarian options if chicken isn't your first fancy but trust me, as I will explain later, you're going to want to try the chicken!

Studying the menu made myself and my mate quite hungry and rather confused as to what to order. As we really found quite a few items that tickled our fancy but there's only so much one could eat. So we turned to the manger, and made it his problem as to what we should order. After getting to know what our preferences were, he suggested we go for their current "WTF" (Where's The Food) promotion, which consists of a full chicken, basted in a sauce of your choice, 12 prawns served on spicy rice and a large Portuguese salad, all for just R249! Quite a bit for the two of us but it sounded pretty good and had both chicken and prawns which I wanted to try, so it was decided. 

The store has quite a few specials, another which caught my eye was a chicken pita and side for just R49,90. Other popular menu items include burgers, which you have a choice of grilled or crumbed, as mentioned their grilled prawns and beef prego, and on the sides list they even offer grilled mealies as well as pap and gravy. With the cooking station being right behind the till point, you can get the delicious aroma's in the air while awaiting your food, which made the wait all more worth it so when the food arrived we were ready to attack!

The presentation of the food was spot on with each item having it's own platter. We opted to have the chicken cut into 8 pieces which didn't make us look like gluttons with our plates over flowing. First up I tried the prawns, which were grilled in garlic butter, full of flavour, cooked just right as each were tender, juicy and complimented well with the spicy rice. A splash of lime over it just brought out that flavour. Grilled prawns is not something I would order at a take-out in a hurry but Senhor Peri Peri have just changed my perception on them. Next up was the chicken, it was evident that that chicken was cooked well with the char on the skin, making it crispy on the outside, but juicy on the inside. The sauce was the show stopper though, it just blew my mind, it's creamy and silky texture matched the chicken to perfection. For something similar, you would have to pay a fortune for at a  restaurant, and with a quarter chicken costing just R38,90 at Senhor Peri Peri, it is a steal! The sauce was flowing in the platter so you could dunk in for more flavour. 

Before we knew it, we finished off our meal! Well, there was some salad leftover. not that it was bad but simply because we didn't have anymore space left in us.  I've already been telling people about my experience since and it is definitely worth a visit, as mentioned there is something to suit everyone's fancy and with the added convenience of it being well located at Cornubia Mall which offers free parking for up to 6 hours, why wouldn't you want to bring your family to dine here? I'll certainly be heading back for me soon! Also if you like me, just can't get enough their amazing sauces, it is available for purchase. 

Details:

Name: Senhor Peri Peri

Location: Shop U45, Cornubia Mall, Cornubia Drive, Mount Edgecombe

Tel: 031 537 3828

Website: www.senhorperiperi.co.za

Twitter: @SenhorPeriPeri

Instagram: senhor_periperi

Facebook: SenhorPeriPeriSA

Bucket Scene: Eora - Kitchen & Bar

Like I said from the start, this segment is to discover new places that are a step away from the norm, we're so used to our usual places we go to that we forget the fun in exploring and trying out new places. A couple weeks back my mates wanted to go out for a quiet dinner and drink, instead of opting for our usual hangout I suggested we try Eora, a new Mediterranean restaurant that opened up in Umhlanga that was getting raving reviews from people who have tried it. I followed them on instagram, had a look at what to offer and it was a done deal. Everything looked good on pictures so it was time to see if the food tasted as good as it looked.

Located at 190 Ridge Road in Umhlanga Rocks, the venue is located conveniently at the entrance of the village area with ample street parking and paid parking available at the centre across the road. We were greeted by our hostess and seated upon arrival. The decor is quite cool and I like the fact they have posters of old South African products that served as the art. Being a bar as well, they serve a host of drinks abd cocktails, the craft beer however is limited to local KZN brewers, so there isn't much variety but at the same time, it's nice to see them promoting the local guys and giving them exposure as they're normally outshone by Cape Town or German brewers. 

While enjoying our local beers we ordered a few of the starters to munch on, they have a good range of starters catering for every ones taste buds. We opted for the crispy calamari and satay chicken, both of which were awesome. The calamari as the name suggested was crispy, coated in a light tempura style batter and fried till crisp, served with a harissa mayo that just  made the taste buds tingle, it was also quite a healthy serving as they don't feel shy to load the bowl. The chicken satay was perfect, the chicken was well spiced and cooked just right, moist and full of flavour. What I liked about the starters is that you can also choose to have them as tapas which is bigger in size. So if you're looking to go out and have some snacks instead of full meals, this is now an option. 

Tapas/ Starters selection

Onto the mains, there are mains to choose of the menu and they have weekly specials written on a chalk board above the entrance. Being a lover of lamb I was sold on the lamb burger that was offered on the menu. Others at the table ordered the Hake and Chips, Steak with mushroom sauce and Sword Fish with prawns. 

Lamb burger

My burger looked great and just like the pictures had me salivating just by looked at it. Organic lamb patty with melted mozzarella topped with tomato relish, served on a toasted bun with sweet potato fries on the side. I like to eat my burgers the way its meant to be eaten, with both hands but due to the size of the patty and the bun being a tad bit too crispy, I couldn't force my mouth open that wide, yes its that big of a burger! I opted to use the utensils instead, the patty for me was a bit dry, but the relish sort of made up for it in a way, the bun as said was a tad bit crispy as well, which made it a bit tricky to eat. 

Hake and chips

My mates on the other hand enjoyed their meals, fish and chips which to be honest is very hard to screw up was great but he felt the chips were a bit oily but its chips... that's the best way to have it. The other enjoyed his steak, cooked well and very tasty. The swordfish was done to perfection, had great flavour and prawns were great too, his only gripe was that the portion was too small as he was still a bit peckish after the meal, I guess that's why they have dessert on the menu but his form of dessert was another craft beer. 

Swordfish and prawn

On the whole, my dinning experience was great, yes my burger wasn't what I expected it to be but everyone else that's had it loved it so it could just be me. Never the less we had an awesome time and the service was top notch. There's loads of things on the menu that I still want to try, including a tapas evening so I will definitely pay them more visits in the future. They also serve breakfast daily from 7am till 11:30am.

website: http://www.eora.co.za/
instagram: http://instagram.com/eorarestaurant
facebook: www.facebook.com/eorarestaurant