Restaurant review: Las Iguanas

Thursday 9th July 2009

This is a Crackerjack review of Las Iguanas. Do you agree? Rate and review this venue.

Food and drink: 8 / 10.
Service: 7 / 10.
Atmosphere: 8 / 10.
Value for money: 8 / 10.

Banksy and Massive Attack may be the first names that spring to mind when thinking about Bristol’s biggest exports, but they have some serious competition.

Las Iguanas now has 22 restaurants across the country but, like Banksy and Massive Attack, it all started in a seedy Bristol side street.

Started by Sri Lankan-born Ajith Jaya-Wickrema in 1991, the first Las Iguanas restaurant was in St Nicholas Street.

A small, nocturnal sort of place where you would go for killer cocktails, great music and authentic Mexican and Brazilian street food, it was one of the Bristol’s coolest hang-outs back when the likes of the aforementioned Massive Attack and Banksy were still graffitying walls around the corner.

Eighteen years on and Las Iguanas is one of the biggest independent restaurant chains with branches all over the country but it is still independent, still based in Bristol and still essentially run by the same people who launched it.

And it’s this hands-on approach that makes this hugely successful chain so different from many of its corporate contemporaries.

There may be more than 20 of them around Britain but it’s a fair bet that the meal you have in Las Iguanas Bristol will be of the same quality as one in the Sheffield branch, which is quite a trick to pull off.

The original St Nicholas Market site has long gone but the long-established Whiteladies Road Las Iguanas was joined a few years ago by one in Harbourside, overlooking Anchor Square.

In an area that has seen restaurants come and go with alarming regularity, it occupies a cracking corner site opposite Explore and the water fountains and is always busy.

The large, covered terrace area is especially popular in the summer and tables can often be at a premium inside and out.

No visit to Las Iguanas is complete without trying the signature Caipirinha cocktails. Made with cachaça, sugar and lime, it is the essence of South America and is as refreshing as it is invigorating. I ordered one, only to be given two as it was happy hour and ‘buy one, get one free’, which certainly got me in the mood for a late lunch.

As well as great cocktails and a decent wine list, there is also an interesting range of beers from South America, including Cusquena from Peru and Negra Modelo from Mexico.

The menu is big, bold and full of Latin delights that shout ‘pick me’ – fajitas, burritos, enchiladas, paella, grilled meats, salads and Brazilian classics such as Xinxim (lime chicken in creamy crayfish and peanut sauce with rice, fine green beans and sweet plantain – a dish reputed to be Pele’s favourite).

There is also a tempting tapas menu and it was from this that I took advantage of the ‘3 dishes for £12’ offer (I was in a bargain-hunting mood for a change).

I wasn’t sure if three would be enough and the ‘5 dishes for £20’ section was winking at me, but I held my nerve and bit my lip.

I needn’t have worried for the tapas that arrived was generous in the extreme and three dishes turned out to be ample, especially after a couple of cocktails.

A new dish on the menu, lamb empanada (normally £4.90) arrived as two crisp pastry parcels packed with tiny chunks of tender lamb with a background flavour of smoked chilli and garlic. They were accompanied by a fruity, vibrant salsa in which fresh mint and sweet papaya jostled for the spotlight. I could have eaten a bowl of it.

An old favourite, Pato Taquito (£4.90) hit the spot, too. Three large tortillas stuffed with shredded roast duck and served with a fiery chilli sauce, it was a Latin take on the much maligned Chinese classic.

Equally sizeable was the Rioja Chorizo (£4.80) comprising a bowl of sliced chorizo braised in red wine and onions. It was rustic, hearty and indecently rich – the sort of dish that really demands a rough red wine to slice through the oiliness.

To finish, one of the new desserts on the menu – mango and passion fruit cheesecake with mango and Caipirinha sauce (£4.50), a light, fluffy cheesecake with plenty of passion fruit flavour and a sumptuous mango coulis. I had a very similar dessert in a Michelin star restaurant last week and I have to say Las Iguanas wins hands down.

A fun place for parties, family meals, post-work cocktails or lunch tapas, Las Iguanas is the sort of restaurant that has hit upon a winning formula and is very hard to fault, which coming from somebody who hates restaurant chains is high praise indeed.

Like Banksy and Massive Attack, its enormous success makes me feel proud to be a Bristolian.

MARK TAYLOR

Wheelchair access: Yes
Prices: Starters from £3.90; main courses from £6.90; Desserts from £3.90

This is a Crackerjack review of Las Iguanas. Do you agree? Rate and review this venue.