I've been meaning to get this post up for a few weeks now but I kept being sidetracked with other things to here it is...finally! Tapas has to be one of my all time favourite foods - probably partly due to the recurring issue of food envy I seem to suffer from pretty much every single time I eat out - anyone else have this problem? So with tapas this isn't a problem, the whole point is to dig in and try everything - say goodbye to food envy forever with this one! Therefore since I moved to London I have been on the hunt for a great tapas restaurant and here's where
Iberica comes in!
This is a fantastic tapas restaurant on Great Portland Street in Marylebone. The night I went they had this INCREDIBLE special cocktail that was only available that night, I literally can't rave about this enough. I can't for the life of me remember what was in it which is frustrating me more than you can understand but I'm pretty sure it involved blackberries, creme de cassis, soda water and some other unknown spirit! It was so fresh and crisp - my only complaint was that it wasn't bigger, is that bad?!
Now, onto the most important stuff - the food (in advance I apologise for the photos - I got a little distracted with the eating and only snapped a few quick pictures between mouthfuls)! First up was the 'Half and Half' - a bread board with a selection of spanish cheeses and cured meats with some quince jelly. This was just amazing, the cured meats so delicious, I could happily have eaten this entire board to myself. My only complaint - not enough quince jelly!
Next to arrive at the table was the 'Grilled baby squid with green Canarian mojo'. I can be very fussy with calamari, it can either be amazing or inedible - there's nothing worse than rubbery calamari, who wants to eat an elastic band? So for this reason, this wasn't actually one of my choices but my dad deserved a big pat on the back for this as yet again this was delicious (are you seeing a bit of a theme yet?). It was cooked to perfection, had such a light crisp batter and that mayo....mmmmmm so good!
Although this may not be very original, my all time favourite dishes at tapas restaurants are patatas bravas and padron peppers. I know these are both really simple dishes (I love to make padron peppers at home - such a good snack) but they're just so good. You know you're not going to go wrong with these which is a huge benefit for someone like me who can be little unadventurous with food at times. Iberica once again managed to hit the spot with both of these. The only place I've had better patatas bravas was at
Lola Rojo on Northcote Road.
We ended up with around 12 dishes between 4 of us which was honestly exactly the right amount - not a scrap of food was left by the time we were done and none of us were left hungry. I cannot recommend this place highly enough, it would be a great place for a date or just a fun night out with friends.
If you've been to Iberica let me know what you thought or if you know of any other great tapas restaurants in London!
