My son and daughter-in-law took me to the Piri Piri Restaurant last Tuesday evening. This is a Portuguese tapas bar/ restaurant in Swindon and an absolute delight to visit.
The menu is long and varied and we decided to order tapas dishes plus bread rather than just one main course each. The waiter was wonderful and explained the menu to us – I speak some Spanish and although Portuguese is a very different thing they’re are some similarities which the waiter was happy to discuss with me – for instance ‘obligado’ is Portuguese for thank you!!!
But to get back to the food.
We ordered Tortilha de Ovo which is a traditional omelette with bacon,onion and Portuguese chourico, Feijão Com Bacon (red beans with bacon bites) and Ensopado De Borrego, a delicious roasted lamb dish made with coriander,garlic and white wine,Batatas Bravas (or fierce potatoes), Enchidos, which is a plate of different cold meats topped with olives, a salad (be warned it carries a spicy dressing), Calamares Fritos – fried squid rings, Almondegas com Salsa (meatballs in sauce).
The bread came out first accompanied by virgin olive oil mmm home made batons – wonderful!
We ordered a bottle of house white wine and soon the familiar small tapas dishes came out and we started to eat. The food was all delicious, I really enjoyed the lamb dish.
A word of warning for the uninitiated the batatas bravas look quite innocuous just nicely cooked potatoes with a sprinkling of spice – but wait…. they are extremely spicy and I could only eat one piece, my daughter-in-law put quite a few pieces on her plate and discovered they were too hot for her. Even my son who loves hot spicy food found them a little too fierce and could not finish them. I asked our waiter what was on the potatoes and he said it was piri piri which is a small fierce chilli and also the name of this restaurant.
All in all it was a lovely evening, not a ‘posh’ restaurant by any standard but it definitely gives a feeling of being in a different country and sampling a new culture. Well worth a visit!!
Obligado senor!!!
Having had a discussion with a work colleague, she assures me that normally fierce potatoes really aren’t that fierce – but here they are something else!!!
i ate at piri piri in swindon and it gacve me food poisoning!
they are rude and the so called ‘piri chicken’ wasnt even cooked.
i will never be going back
What a shame Steve, I wonder what went wrong. When we went they were busy but everything was cooked beautifully.
i agree with steve,what a shambles… the food is SO overpriced & they are bad a customer service. you can tell they have come over here with no experience
NEVER GO THERE
Hi! My name is Pedro and i am the Proprietor of House of Piri Piri.
I am very glad to ear such nice comments as kate’s.
However i would like to respond to Steve and James:
Our team is not unexperienced. We have 18 years experience (enough?).
Also, our chicken is cooked by standard, for 35 minutes at 300 degrees. No chance to be uncooked.
The Costumer Service is our main focus along with good athmosphere and excellent food. That is probably why we are growing so much and we are looking forward to open the second restaurant in a few months time.
I do understand that our success is not well seen for many people. I do appologise if anything went wrong with you. Next time please let us know, and we’ll do our best to make you happy. Please contact me directly. Do not live comments like: “you can tell they have come over here with no experience” because it souds UNADEQUATE.
For you, Kate, all the best and hope seeing you soon.
James – thank you for your comment – we are all allowed an opinion here.
Hola Pedro, Muchas gracias por sus palabras. Espero verle quando visito mi hijo en Deciembre. Hasta pronto. Kate
I have eaten in Piri Piri several times. It is one of my favourite places to catch some lunch. There is a large Portugese and Brazilian community in Swindon and they use the place regularly. If they find the food to their liking then it must be authentic. The staff there are very friendly and I have never had any problems with anything I have ordered. I find it very reasonably priced and good value for money. I just wish there were more establishments like this. The traditional British cafe could learn a lot from the nice folk that run this restaurant.
Hi Tony,
Thank you for your comment here – as I said I had a lovely time too
Hi… Just to let you know that I always was very well welcome to Piri Piri and the food is great. Keep up the good job and I will see you on the weekend………….
I should begin by pointing out that the restaurant has changed owners, to anyone who remotely believed there was something wrong with the food before.
…And go on by saying that it is unquestionably my favourite eating place in Swindon. Prices for tapas are perfectly reasonable given you are getting the real thing, properly spiced and accompanied by a family atmosphere of indulgent hospitality. I particularly recommend taking staff recommendations on wine as the owner’s father chooses every one himself with evident relish.
It is also worth pointing out, on the subject of price, that they have great value lunchtime specials where huge pork or chicken sandwiches are served with mounds of fresh french fries. And in the evening I dare anyone to claim that a full meal of piri piri chicken or ‘bitoque’ (steak in portuguese sauce) for 7.50 is excessive.
The only thing I can think of by way of warning is that the atmosphere is informal, and may not suit a business dinner unless your guests are naturally in tune.
5.1.12
We went last night and the food was fabulous as were the staff, they have had new owners since Autumn 2011.
We thought it was reasonably priced, the staff were helpful, nice relaxes atmosphere, very filling and good to taste something different from traditional Spanish tapas. The wine was beautiful much better than any other normal house wine you are normally served.
We will be going back and look forward to hearing the live music events