Roosters Piri Piri

13-14 Fleet Street,

Swindon, SN1 1RQ.

Tel: 01793 491019

IT’S that time of year again when we tighten the pursestrings... and hopefully loosen our belts in the process.

The office echoes to the sound of lettuce leaves being crunched, giant vats of pasta are cooked to last the whole week and Aldi does a roaring trade in low-cal microwave meals.

But if, 10 days in, your New Year’s resolution to eat cheaply and healthily is beginning to waver, you could do much worse than a delivery from Roosters Piri Piri.

Roosters is a small chain with a franchise in Fleet Street, and its stated aim is to serve up ‘truly tasty, nutritious fast food’.

Oh yeah, I hear you say... whoever heard of a healthy takeaway?

Well, I have no idea how many calories are in a Roosters meal but it certainly seems a whole lot lighter, fresher and more wholesome than the usual stodgy takeaway fare. And I can definitely vouch for the ‘truly tasty’ part – with many dishes coated in spicy piri-piri sauce or seasoning, you can chose just how ‘tasty’ you want it.

We ordered on a Thursday night and were told it would take 45 minutes to an hour to arrive. In fact, it was just 30 minutes and the food arrived sizzling hot and smelling amazing.

The menu is inspired by street food from around the world, with signature dishes like the piri-piri chicken, lamb koftas and gourmet burgers all freshly marinated and grilled to order.

We’d gone for a piri-piri pitta (£6.19), a spicy beef wrap (£4.99), the piri-piri breast burger (£4.49) and piri-piri strips (£4.99 for six), with sides of seasoned wedges, (£2.29), fries (£1.69 without seasoning, £1.89 with) and a fattoush salad (£2.09), a Lebonese salad scattered with pieces of toasted pitta.

My wrap was neatly packed with strips of spicy beef (cooked medium without me even having to ask) and a great tangy sauce that tickled the tastebuds without being overpowering. The salad was shunned by everyone else, but I loved it – the lemon dressing giving it a fresh and healthy feel that made me feel virtuous.

The other three main courses were all given the thumbs up between mouthfuls, with just the burger deemed a little too spicy, but that’s just a matter of personal taste.

However, if you only ever order one thing from Roosters, make it the piri-seasoned wedges. They are sensational, with a hot and fluffy inside and a crispy-spicy coating that keeps you reaching for more.

I actually tried to recreate them a few nights later at home, but failed.

I guess I’ll just have to order some more before I master how to make them. Oh dear, what a shame.- Michelle Tompkins