What's the draw
Down an unassuming sidestreet in the depths of Borough, you'll find not one but two stellar restaurants sharing a revamped Victorian warehouse on Southwark Street. British wild food restaurant Native claims the ground floor, while beyond the foliage and up the wooden steps you'll find Casa do Frango, a bright, leafy, Algarvian-inspired restaurant that's as suited to an intimate-date night dinner as it is to a big old peri peri pile-up with your mates on its long communal table.
What to drink
Slip into The Green Room – a secret bar in the back of the restaurant – for an aperitif or settle into your seat and enjoy a cocktail (or two) alongside your starters. We sunk Frango's take on a Bloody Mary, periodically dipping that puff of crispy chicken skin into the rich and spicy tomato-based mix before moving onto a glass of the Quinta de Azevedo, an elderflower-sweet vinho verde wine from Portuguese producer Loureiro e Alvarinho.
What to eat
There's nothing cheeky about Frango's peri peri chicken: delicious, blistered skin slips freely from charred chicken moist with a healthy brushing of fiery peri peri sauce and fat rendered liquid by the charcoal-fire's heat. For full effect, skip the fries and pair it with a side of African rice: peppered with chunks of chorizo, fried plantain and fresh garden peas, we could eat it for days. If you're game for even more peri peri, turn your attention to the grilled prawns and the chargrilled cauliflower, where the smokey veg takes on a whole new dimension when paired with a spoonful of cooling coriander and pistachio yoghurt. If there's room behind the belt, then afters should absolutely include a pastel de nata. Frango makes them in-house and they comes with a side of creamy vanilla (or coffee) ice cream and a puff of cinnamon powder.
Small plates from £6; wine from £6 by the glass. 1st floor, 32 Southwark Street, SE1 1TU; casadofrango.co.uk
