Leeds - White Rose - Elliott Waters Review

After a long bus ride from Bradford via Dewsbury, the White Rose Centre, located just outside Leeds, was today's Nando's location. And what an epic it was.

After finding the outlet using the handy White Rose Centre 'where to go' guide, I approached the Nandoca who advised of a 10 minute wait. In reality, it was much less than this, and I was seated inside, on the right hand rear wall, Table 28. It was quite a nice table, being far enough back from the main hustle of the outlet, and far enough away from the door. I pondered the new menu, and went to place my order. The ordering process was fairly slick, and I just couldn't help but try one of the new items on the menu. Order taken, I returned to the table via the cutlery and sauce area, and drinks stand.

The outlet is quite small for a shopping centre outlet, but they haven't tried to pack in as many tables as they can, which is good. There are four 'areas' to this outlet. The first is as you walk up to the outlet, there is a line of 'booth' style tables on the exterior, which aren't great, as you really are very exposed, so I would decline if possible. The entrance is at the right hand corner, and it is here you are greeted by a Nandoca. The waiting area is on the opposite side of the mall walkway, as the walkway needs to be kept clear, as there is a fire escape next to the Nando's entrance. As you enter, you go in to the second section, which is mainly low level tables next to the exterior windows, and butting up to the central 'wooden' centrepiece. The third section is behind this, and contains many higher level 'bar' style seats, and a small number of secluded booths on the back wall. The toilets are located behind these booths, with a small access halfway along the back wall. The fourth area is the till and grill, which are located on the left hand wall of the outlet. Here you will also find the cutlery and sauces section, and the drinks machine which are separate. Decoration is quite nice, there were a few chandeliers hanging down, some nice aboriginal art on the walls, and the PERi-PERi vibes were humming. One of the best decorated shopping centre outlets I have seen.

The meal arrived after just short of 10 minutes, and it was DELICIOUS. I ordered the new Churrasco Thigh burger, which has been on the menu for less than a week now, Mango and Lime, with chips and salad. I didn't quite know what to expect with the burger, and I was very impressed. The burger is two boneless thighs which were grilled to perfection, smothered in Mango and Lime sauce. There was a slice of cheddar cheese on top of the thighs, with fino coleslaw on top of the cheese. There was lashings of the Churrasco PERinaise on both buns, it was simply dripping out all over my hands and on to the plate. A very messy occurrence, yes, but it tasted excellent and is just how I like it. The chips were quite nice, helped down with Churrasco PERinaise that had dripped out the burger, and lemon and herb sauce. The side salad has seen an improvement in the new menu too. It contained a small amount of cucumber, and four tomatoes instead of the usual two. There was also quite a large helping of lettuce, so the portion sizes here were certainly quite big. I paid £10.45 for the Churrasco Thigh Burger, which considering it's essentially a double burger with lots of extras and two sides, is quite a reasonable price.

The plates were taken away not long after finishing, and at this point we departed, heading onwards to Leeds.

The outlet is located in the White Rose shopping centre, in the Food Court area, which is roughly in the centre of the mall, on the upper level. As you arrive on the upper level, it is to the right hand side, in the corner near McDonalds. There is plenty of free parking here, and the mall is easily accessible from the M62. The centre also has it's own bus station, if you're not a driving person, and you can reach here by the 2, 3, 3A, 202 or 203 services from Leeds City Bus Station. Unfortunately this outlet isn't really accessible by rail, however for completeness the nearest station is Cottingley.

Overall, quite a good outlet considering it's in a shopping centre. The staff were rather friendly, it's not too cramped, and the food was excellent. Would recommend this outlet to anyone wishing to catch some out-of-town shopping Peri-Peri vibes.