Readers, it’s been a great few weeks visiting Glasgow
restaurants various and sampling new menus, refurbs and openings.
Last Tuesday, the lovely Emma from Emma invited me as her
plus one to the launch of the new menu at Ibérica in Glasgow. Now, we can’t call these guys a chain – yes,
they do have 6 venues south of the border, but their menus reflect what’s
available locally, they’ve gone out of their way to source wines from small,
unique wineries across Spain and we were in last week to see what their latest
menu had to offer.
Ibérica’s internal PR lady was up from London – she’s been
with them since Head Office was pretty much a back room operation, knows the
role inside out and most of all, she’s passionate about the food they serve to
customers. She spent a great deal of
time with us all on the night, which was appreciated. It was my first visit to Ibérica Glasgow last
week and I had a lovely time sampling and reviewing the new menu in their
Glasgow branch which opened last year.
Our night kicked off with a trio of jamones (ham to the rest
of us) served with a cheeseboard selection, breads and oils and the very
welcomed cava. We learned about the pigs
and how some retailers aren’t always 100% truthful on their pigs, what they are
fed on and what their heritage is. It’s
true, they all did taste slightly differently, clearly affected by what the
pigs had been eating!
Next, we moved on through to the private dining area – note,
Ibérica is as formal as you want it to be.
They are encouraging small plates and drinks by the bar after work (like
you’d do in Spain, enough of your formal dining Britain!) Or, if formality is
more your thing, then the private dining area at the back accompanied around 12
people fairly comfortably. Great for
groups (or as I thought, a classy hen night dinner).
We started with a selection from the new menu – my personal
favourite was the baby carrot tempura with a homemade tartare sauce, which was
divine. We then got stuck into crispy
cauliflower, octopus and a traditional salad.
All were served with a delicious white wine, which is only available at Ibérica
restaurants – see my point above about the small independent wineries.
Next up, croquettes with ham – I learned these are so
difficult to make properly and that the internal mix should be stirred for
several hours to create the creamy texture properly. I’ll keep this in mind for any future
croquette eating… We had twice cooked lamb, chicken wings and pitu chicken and
rice. Don’t be fooled by the small
plates… after 4 of these, you’re likely to be done and dusted!!!! These were
all matched by a delicious Spanish red, again, only available at Ibérica.
I love dessert… and even after knocking myself out with
everything apart from the Octopus, I saved a little space to sample both
dessert offers –a little tasty oh so sweet, almost caramel tart served with
mango sorbet. Trust me, it’s worth ordering. It’s really rich, but oh so
delicious. Then, to finish up, churros
with a hot chocolate sauce. My absolute
favourite snack.
Ibérica Glasgow was a really lovely experience. The décor is very much my style, quite
industrial, no fussy linens etc and I can see this being a great after work
spot for dinner with colleagues. Upshot…
keen to go back!
Disclaimer: I was invited along to Iberica to review their new menu. Any opinions expressed are my own.