Caso do Frango, Borough Market

It would be taking the easy route to describe Caso do Frango as a posh Nandos, so that is exactly what I am going to do. The Portuguese peri peri Chicken restaurant operates out of two of London’s hipper locations, London Bridge and Shoreditch and is perhaps to spicy poultry what Meat Liquor was to dirty burgers a few years ago.

The London Bridge branch sits on the edge of Borough Market, a deceptively small entrance giving access to a spacious upstairs dining room. Visiting with a colleague one soporific late summer afternoon, I noted that the large glass roof and abundance of what was probably abundantly fake greenery made it feel as if you were dining in Kew Gardens rather than London Bridge. We were seated fairly quickly, on a small table near the stairs, a highly visible location to everyone apart from the waiting staff it seemed.

Having eventually procured a menu, I was rather frustrated to notice the large number of interesting sounding alcoholic diversions. Unfortunately for me this was a working lunch, and so there would be no pre-prandial livener of a port & tonic or a house Negroni for me more’s the pity. Also untouched by me on this occasion was the wine list, which again was a shame is it looked interesting. As you’d expect, it focuses on Portuguese wines with a further concentration on vino verdes. The prices are mid-level from the late 20s through to the late 40s and it looked good value.

There’s a very limited selection of starters, just 2 bread and Portguese empanandas. This is complemented by a much larger selection of sharing platters, including chorizo, prawns, croquettes etc. Again, I didn’t partake, but these did look delicious as they were distributed to the larger more convivial tables that surrounded us. The constant arrival of aperitifs, cocktails, superbock and super plonk suggested that many of these tables’ occupants would be as convivial as a newt by end of their lunchtime. I suppressed my painful twinges of jealousy and went to concentrate what to have as my main course.

At Casa do Frango the choice of main courses is wide and various, if you fancy a half a roasted peri peri chicken. If you don’t however, you’re bang out of luck. At £12 it’s reasonable but not a steal, side dishes average £5-6, and feature a variety of rice and salads, and only option for chips. The chicken was very good, and I had plumped for a heritage tomato and onion salad to go with mine, which was a good accompaniment. The chicken was well cooked and the peri peri flavoursome without being overpowering. My colleague opted for a grilled lettuce and cheese concoction, which she assured me she liked, though she did not appear to devour it with the same gusto as she did the peri’d protein.

The bill when it came at £49, was I felt even in these inflationary times a bit high end for a one
course, no booze lunch with a colleague. I did enjoy it though and just wished I could find someone
to join for a more booze orientated occasion before the autumn and poverty become too
entrenched.

Extra extra. I had a birthday recently; I don’t recall which one, as these days I’ve had so many it’s easy to lose track of them. As part of my commiserations, I visited a couple of my favourite destination restaurants in the West End. On both occasions everything looked the same as usual, but the food was not as I remembered.

On the second of these occurrences, I was so disappointed I asked to speak to the manager. I had ordered a dish that the venue was famous, maybe even infamous for and the taste was now reminiscent of a chargrilled beer mat.

The manager was apologetic but explained that Covid, Brexit, energy costs, employee shortages had created a perfect storm for restaurateurs. Each factor on its own could probably have been dealt with, but now you had a lack of employees, spiralling costs, and an unwillingness to pass all of this onto the consumer. This is the toughest time for the hospitality industry that I can remember, so please bear this in mind if your next meal doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Rob