Cook it: A touch of Latin
Vibrant flavours at Las Iguanas
The arrival of my 20 year old nephew and his partner put me off my guard. I had shopped till I dropped and filled the refrigerator with the sort of hearty food that I assumed all young people would enjoy, sausages and bacon, beef for a casserole and a chicken to roast on the Sunday. When I discovered that Owain was vegetarian the whole lot had to be relegated to the freezer for future use. Not even a fish eating veggie, I ask you!
To be honest it was no great hardship as it was a busy weekend that included a lot of entertainment, the food festival New Road market and a fair amount of drinking to boot.
On the Friday I decided that we would eat lunch out and having perused the market and had a cocktail, we headed down to Las Iguanas. I dined there when it first opened and enjoyed it, and last year I tried their branch in Kingston upon Thames. That was very good indeed and I enjoyed it when their chef joined me on the Kingston Food Festival Live Food Stage. He made a stonkingly good dish with lots of coconut milk.
I thought that the buzzy vibe would suit the young ones and it certainly did. Having already had a drink and with a long concert to enjoy we all chose soft drinks and we took advantage of the deal on three tapas sized dishes to start with and share.
I exercised my love for what I kindly refer to as dirty food, by which I mean deliciously messy and rather naughty. For some reason I love nachos, there is something exciting about the combination of crackers, cheese, avocado, salsa and sour cream. These were particularly good, really nice corn chips to start with, way above average, and the right amount of toppings to make it tasty and satisfying. If anything it was a bit big, but I put on a brave face and made a good effort to polish it off. David chose duck wraps with a great dipping sauce. Now David has always been a picky eater so I was surprised by his less than conventional choice, but he loved it although he was reluctant to try the fruity sauce. I did, again the portion was more than generous, and it was deliciously sticky and vibrant.
Owain, the veggie, chose a mushroom dish which he loved and again despite the size of the portion he made a good stab at it, nearly finishing, but not wanting to peak too soon.
On to a main course then and I was drawn to a new dish on the menu, cordero, or rack of lamb. It was very good indeed, the lamb, cut off the bone, was easy to eat with tender flesh and crisp skin. The rich sauce was dark and musky in stark and effective contrast to a vibrant salsa made of mandarin orange. That too had a dark almost marmalade edge but also had some chilli fire and a sweet citrus tang. The side of green beans was good as was the garlic and chilli mash. I was very happy with my choice.
David chose the Blazing Bird, barbecued chicken and thankfully went for a half chicken as it was huge, almost defeating him and depleting his need for the fries on the side. I am embarassed to say that he left the slaw untouched, so dainty is his palate.
Owain was massively impressed by the number of choices on offer to him and finally went for the vegetarian Bahia Moqueca. This was the rich coconut dish that I had experienced in Kingston, and it was huge and declared delicious. I love it when my vegetarian friends are offered choices that turn out to be a real delight, for one it stops them moaning that all they are offered is mushrooms or aubergine. Owain loved it but he too was unable to actually finish the dish off. Las Iguanas certainly offers great value when it comes to portion size.
This of course has a down side to it as not one of us was able to even contemplate dessert, sad when you read the offer of a dulce de leche cheesecake which I may well have to pop back to try.
Price too was impressive, great portions, two courses each and soft drinks, all from the full menu for under £20 a head. We could have eaten for less as there is a great lunch menu offer. Unpretentious, tasty and fun – we loved it!
Las Iguanas7-8 Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE 01273 573 550
iguanas.co.uk
