The short answer
Compare four grilled chicken options at Nando’s, Pepe’s, Roosters and Dishoom, with portion notes, published calories and practical ordering tips.
Start with the chicken. Then build the plate.
A chicken breast, five strips and a half bird are very different orders. The useful comparison starts with the amount of food and what comes alongside it. “Grilled” describes a cooking method; it does not tell you the size of the meal or how much dressing, rice or bread is included.
Our shortlist covers a straightforward chicken portion, a rice-based lunch, a thigh option and a restaurant grill. These are researched menu choices rather than taste-test awards. Pick the format that suits the occasion, then check the finished order at your branch.
The shortlist
The orders to know.
We looked for explicitly grilled chicken, identifiable individual portions and different ways to order. Whole-bird platters and children’s meals are excluded from the comparison. Missing current macros do not count as zero.
For choosing your own sides: Nando’s Butterfly
The Butterfly gives you a defined chicken portion before you choose the rest of lunch. That makes it a useful starting point when two people want similar mains but different sides. The menu figure belongs to the chicken, not a two-side meal.
UK; check your branch
- Calories
- 332 kcal
- Protein
- Not verified
- Carbs
- Not verified
- Fat
- Not verified
Portion: Chicken portion only; sides and drinks extra.
Calories verified on the menu; a complete current macro panel was not verified.
Ordering note. Choose the sides you actually want and read their portions separately. A plain chicken figure cannot stand in for the finished plate.
For a rice-based lunch: Pepe’s Chick’n’Rice
This is the most important label to read carefully: the base rice-and-chicken figure is followed by a flavour addition on the branch PDF. It makes our list for its clear meal format, with that limitation attached.
UK; check your branch
- Calories
- 556 kcal
- Protein
- Not verified
- Carbs
- Not verified
- Fat
- Not verified
Portion: Base dish: 556 kcal before 40 ml flavour; no sides or drink.
Base calories only. The flavour addition changes the total; other current macros were not verified.
Ordering note. Check the selected flavour as well as the base dish. A meal upgrade adds further items; the base figure is not the checkout total.
Pepe’s UK menu ↗Pepe’s Welling menu: portions and flavour additions ↗
For a thigh option: Roosters Piri Piri
Chicken thighs offer a different cut to the breast-led choices elsewhere in this list. The official dish listing is a useful lead, but we could not reliably recheck its live nutrition panel. It stays a qualitative suggestion, not a calorie-ranked recommendation.
UK; check your branch
Portion: Confirm the chicken portion and any included sides locally.
Live nutrition could not be consistently verified; no numerical comparison is made.
Ordering note. Ask which thigh portion is being sold and whether a side is included before comparing it with a breast or half-chicken order.
For a sit-down grill: Dishoom Chicken Tikka
The Birmingham menu puts Chicken Tikka in its grills section. Treat it as one part of an order with separately chosen accompaniments, particularly if everyone at the table is sharing. There is no verified protein figure here.
Birmingham all-day menu
Portion: One grill order; rice, bread and vegetable sides ordered separately.
Complete nutrition was not available in the reviewed menu. We do not estimate protein.
Ordering note. Agree which dishes are shared before ordering. Rice or bread and a vegetable dish can be planned separately from the grill.
Compare the actual orders
Figures belong to the portions described. “Not verified” means we could not confirm that value for this review; it does not mean zero. See each order above for all verified nutrients and its source.
Swipe across to compare the portions →
| Order | Portion / inclusions | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nando’s: Chicken Butterfly | Chicken portion only; sides and drinks extra. | 332 kcal | Not verified |
| Pepe’s: Chick’n’Rice | Base dish: 556 kcal before 40 ml flavour; no sides or drink. | 556 kcal | Not verified |
| Roosters Piri Piri: Grilled chicken thighs | Confirm the chicken portion and any included sides locally. | Not verified | Not verified |
| Dishoom: Chicken Tikka | One grill order; rice, bread and vegetable sides ordered separately. | Not verified | Not verified |
Before you order
A practical order sequence
First choose the chicken cut and portion. Next choose one main accompaniment, then any vegetables or sauces. Check whether the displayed total includes each of those decisions. This is easier than trying to reverse-engineer a mixed platter after it arrives.
Heat is not a nutrition category
A hotter flavour is not automatically a lighter one. At Pepe’s, the selected flavour has its own energy contribution. Use the restaurant’s portion information rather than the heat scale.
Keep the shortlist in proportion
A breast portion without sides should not “win” against a complete rice bowl simply because its displayed energy is lower. Compare similar lunches, or use the chicken-only entry as a component of your own order.
Frequently asked questions
Are grilled chicken meals always lower in calories?
No. Portion size, skin, sauces and sides affect the final meal. Compare the specific dish and its inclusions.
Which has the most protein?
This guide does not rank unverified protein values. Open the high-protein guide for selected portions with recorded protein figures.
Research, sources & limits
Official menus and nutrition pages were checked on 18 September 2026. Restaurant publication dates, where supplied, are separate from that check date. These are desk-researched recommendations, not reports of visits or a taste test. Availability, recipes and portions can change.
- Nando’s UK food menu ↗
Menu calories checked; other macros are not reproduced from older records.
- Pepe’s UK menu ↗
- Pepe’s Welling menu: portions and flavour additions ↗
Branch-specific PDF; base calories exclude the stated flavour addition.
- Roosters Piri Piri: thighs ↗
Dish listing identified; live nutrition could not be consistently retrieved, so no figures are reproduced.
- Dishoom Birmingham all-day menu ↗
Birmingham menu used for dish descriptions; no complete nutrition reproduced.
Published nutrition does not guarantee allergy suitability. Check current ingredients and cross-contact information with the restaurant. Restaurants linked to Menuu have their own dated menu records; external recommendations are not a promise of app coverage.
