With each of the four Ibérica branches in London offering a slice of gastronomic Spain on a grey day, this tapas experience will erase any memories of soggy patatas bravas or overcooked paella. I visited the Marylebone premises on Great Portland Street in search of the real Arriondas.
Taking inspiration from the finest Spanish ingredients, not least the restaurant’s namesake – Jamón Ibérico – Executive Chef Nacho Manzano has created a menu of mouth-watering sharing plates to enjoy with friends over a good bottle of wine. Having achieved two Michelin stars for Casa Marcial and a further star for restaurant La Salgar in Asturias, Nacho Manzano’s Northern Spanish origins have never been better celebrated than by perfecting the art of tapas and sharing it with eager customers. Manzano personally trains chefs for Ibérica at his restaurant Casa Marcial to ensure a constant progression of modern techniques, but also an understanding and respect of more traditional ways of cooking in certain areas of Spain.
Cocktails have a distinctly Spanish twist with ingredients such as anchovy, fig, and juniper berries, or why not opt for sherry as an aperitif? On the other hand, if you couldn’t think of enjoying Spanish food without Sangría, a wide range available either by the glass or the jug is offered including beer and Cava versions. Beers and wines are carefully selected by sommelier Fernando Gonzalez, who has sourced some brilliant examples from small producers who were previously only sold within Spain. The Allende 2007 Rioja we opted for turned out to be well-balanced and full-bodied enough to withstand a meal with so many robust flavours.
There are several sections to the menu, including cured meats and cheeses, salads and vegetables, paellas, eggs and croquettes, tortillas, sharing mains, and smaller dishes inspired from the land and sea, with everything revolving around seasonality and technique. Understandably, there is a prominent section devoted to the Jamón Ibérico. With an array of hams hung behind the counter and a chef dedicated just to carving the meat (which he did as if undressing the most beautiful woman in the world), it would be sacrilege to dine here without sampling this exquisite product.
The Ibérico trio, so our waiter informed us, is designed to take the diner on a journey through Spain, with hams from the centre to the south of Spain and varying in flavour intensity depending on the region and curing process. The Ibérico pig is a pure and free-ranging animal that feeds mainly on acorns from Holm Oak trees which lend a distinct texture and taste – freshly baked, rustic bread and high quality olive oil is all you need as accompaniments.
The extensive menu means it’s easy to order more than you should so I suggest bringing lots of friends and making a night of it to sample as much as possible. An excellent value £15 set lunch menu is available for those in a hurry, although personally I would find it extremely difficult to go back to work afterwards! After a short time our table was laden with treats including oozing Serrano ham croquettes (a house speciality), the restaurant’s own take on fish and chips, mini burger sliders of secreto pork loin with Piparra peppers, and sweet mussel and red gurnard paté with chive mayonnaise, crisp lambs lettuce and crunchy toasts.
Next arrived the impressive-looking fried chorizo lollipops, with a deep red outer batter revealing chewy yet succulent sausage that was truly inspired when dipped into the accompanying sweet pear purée. Other highlights included asparagus, Manchego, onion confit and truffle oil toast, and the sublime Segovian suckling pig with apple purée.
Flavours and textures are consistently modern and bold whilst remaining truly authentic and never stereotypically Spanish. The restaurant, with its high ceilings and Spanish influences, has a great atmosphere and you could almost imagine you were on holiday in a rural town in Spain, sitting outside with the old folk smoking and chatting, and children and stray dogs running about, eating food cooked by people who know how to enjoy life.
When it comes to dessert, make sure you sample either the wine liqueur, Casta Diva cosecha miel, or the treacle-coloured sherry, Noé, Pedro Ximénez, aged for over 30 years in oak barrels – its intensely fruity notes are the perfect partner to the restaurant’s famous caramelised Spanish rice pudding or La tarta de la abuela; a heavenly chocolate mousse with crumble topping.
It’s two years since a fellow writer sampled Ibérica’s second branch at Canary Wharf and business is flourishing. It doesn’t surprise me that there are 10 other branches rumoured to be afoot, with a London Victoria restaurant in the offing and a fifth 200-cover premises launching in Manchester’s trendy foodie district of Spinningfields this autumn, fresh in the footsteps of renowned chefs Simon Rogan and Aiden Byrne hoping to tap into the city’s burgeoning food culture.
This is exactly the food you want to eat on the weekend, it’s clever but delicious and, most of all, fun. I sincerely hope Manzano’s modern interpretations on classic dishes will signal the future direction of the culinary phenomenon of tapas. I can say without hesitation that wherever Ibérica goes, people will follow – I know I will.
