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Everyone has their evergreen go-to food spots. We’re not talking about the kebab shop between the pub and your house, but the place that will also be your first choice when in a certain part of town. For us, it’s Casa Do Frango, the undeniable kings of Piri Piri in London (sorry N**dos).

Whether we’re meeting with a friend for a catchup, taking our folks out when they’re visiting (and need somewhere that isn’t “London prices”), or organising a group dinner with fussy pals, CDF always has us covered.

As you’d imagine with reliable spots, we already have our must-have items every time (African rice, fries and multiple piri piri chickens in case you were wondering), but we were visiting this time to try the new menu and see if any fresh dishes will make it onto our roster.

Sharing plates are seemingly the order of the day with CDF’s new additions. We kicked things off with the charred cauliflower, a saucy beast marinated in honey, lemon and piri piri that we sliced like a cake and enjoyed so much we may as well have put some candles in it (especially the coriander yoghurt sauce and accompanying pistachios). For the meat eaters, the pork shoulder was silky and indulgent, slow-cooked for 10 hours and served with a pimentão sauce that packs just the right amount of punch spice-wise. We also indulged in seafood for the first time, taking on the traditionally Portugese seafood rice, which was chock full of juicy large tiger prawns, Scottish mussels and squid, culminating in what can only be described as a pimped-up paella that was just the right amount of ‘wet’.

On the smaller side, corn ribs have been given the piri piri treatment in style (even if it feels like every single restaurant is doing them this summer), while the wagyu meatballs feel effortlessly indulgent with a deep, flavoursome tomato sauce made to be mopped up by the biggest chunk of bread you can find.

There’s clearly a lot of attention to detail in the new menu additions, and every dish feels considered and true to the Casa Do Frango heritage rather than just expanding the menu for the sake of it. Offering one of the finest iterations of Portuguese cuisine in the capital, we can’t wait for what’s next.

See locations here