Restaurant Review: Las Iguanas

I want to say I’m a big fan of the Trafford Centre. And you’d think, given I love to shop, my love of Selfridges, Debenhams even, that I’d be in there regularly.

I can remember when it was built, I lived in Davyhulme then, around the corner almost, and was excited about the jobs it would bring the shopping opportunities, the cinema in there even. But I forgot one thing.

Other people.

You see, no matter how much I adore shopping, no matter how much I love rifling the rails during the sales, there are always other people in my way. Walking slowly, pushing buggies over my feet, stopping to randomly have a conversation in the middle of the walkway, or just grabbing the last dress in the size I wanted off the rail – the list is endless.

It turns out I have a real love/hate relationship with shopping centres.

There are, however, oases of calm amongst the browsers. Like Las Iguanas.

I know, it’s a chain, and there’s a general rule that we’re supposed to hate chains. But I just can’t. They exist for a reason and whilst I’d love there to be more independents in shopping centres (something Manchester Arndale do very well) when it comes to the big out of town centres, there aren’t any. And so we all end up going to those who provide consistently good food and drink, whose name we trust. The food might not be AA Rosette winning, or something that earns them a five star rating from a blogger, or even a food critic, but god, it’s food, I’m tired, I’m stressed and I need to escape for half an hour.

What I love about Las Iguanas is the choice. Not only is there a separate vegan/vegetarian and gluten free menu, but there are so many menu choices on the standard one, I lost count at 54. Seriously.

You have picky eaters in your family? Sorted. Food intolerances? Sorted. For those of us who don’t, it does make choosing a bit more difficult, but you can always make these decisions whilst taking advantage of their regular 2for1 cocktail offer, like I did. Two Pisco Sours please.

This is probably where my only real grumbles lie. Why can I only have two of the same cocktail? And why aren’t the non-alcoholic cocktails included? Keeley was driving and so it would have been nice if she could have indulged her sweet tooth without the booze. And I’d have liked to try more than one cocktail out of curiosities sake.

Oh well. The Pisco Sours were great, on the recipe, no messing, no fussing about trying to twist it or whatever. Good. A relief after circling the car park trying to park for 20 minutes.

And so to food. Because the menu offers so much choice, it makes sense to share tapas style starters. No, honestly. Well, we might have just completed a Clubbercise session and I may have done a 2.5 hour weights session before that on a banana and have been absolutely starving.

Gambas were first on the menu. Huge prawns in a gently spicy sauce, with fresh bread for mopping.   The prawns were done to a turn, the sauce rich with a little tickle of heat, nothing too overwhelming for the more delicate flavour of the prawns, the bread soft and chewy.

Our second choice was a whole lot spicier. Cha-cha Chorizo – slow cooked chorizo in a red wine, tomato & smoked jalapeño sauce, again with that soft chewy bread. This was a whole lot more powerful with tender chorizo and the garlic and chilli punching through into the sauce. The perfect antidote to an insane gym session.

Finally, something a little lighter, brie & mango empanadas with corn and sweet chilli salsa. Of the three, the one dish I wasn’t 100% certain about. I wanted to love it, but I wasn’t sure of the flavour combination at all, the brie seemed a little lost with the mango,

Feeling infinitely more stable than I did, it was on to mains. I’d gone for something a little heavy in the carbohydrate department, given I’d just burned so many and selected The Full Enchilada with roast butternut squash and roasted red peppers, spinach and cheese.

The black beans were that creamy starchy texture I love, the spring onion rice was a little lacking in flavour (and I think I only found one piece of spring onion), but the enchilada? Oh yeah. That was good, very good. The butternut squash was sweet and soft, the cheese gooey, the spinach just wilted rather than a mushy overcooked texture. Even the tortilla itself was herbed, meaning there was lots of flavour, lots of colour and my energy stores were topped back up.

Keeley had gone for something much more meaty, with the honey glazed rump steak and red onion skewers, served with cassava fries and a peri peri sauce. Great steak, spicy sauce and given my normal experience of cassava chips involves the snack kind dunked in salsa, a bit of a revelation. My, they’re good. I loved the contrast between the crispness of the outside and the soft almost powdery texture of the inside. Another pile of those please.

Dessert brings, of course, more choices – made more difficult by the fact that though I had selected churros (I may have a slight addiction to their sweet cinnamon sugar) I was flummoxed by the two choices of dip. The buttery, creamy, sweet Dulce de Leche? Or their chocolate sauce? The waitress took pity on my furrowed brow (did she notice I’ve got a big frown line there now too?) and brought both.

I was really glad she did – my automatic reaction would have been to pick the dulce and that would have been lovely, BUT, it was the chocolate that blew me away. This was rich, dark, cocoa. Proper chocolate, not the sweet, over sugared greasy stuff I’ve had before. This had me reaching for my spoon to eat it on its own. Anyone who knows how fussy I am about chocolate will understand just how good that makes it.

Keeley’s Berry Mexican Mess was a sweet, meringue filled eton mess style dessert – perhaps a little heavy on the meringue for me, but I don’t really have a sweet tooth, so I’m probably being a little over fussy.

Let’s be truthful, what did I care? I was eating a dipping sauce with a spoon.  I’d obviously left my classy side with the enchilada.

Overall, you rather impressed me Las Iguanas. Your refurb is lovely, the food as ever is great and that chocolate sauce made me leave my ladylike manners at the main course.

Next time I need a bit of colourful calm in a sea of grumpy shoppers and tetchy kids, I’ll be stopping by for a little recovery time.

Just keep that chocolate sauce on hand.

 

This food and drinks in this review and the one for Tasting Britain, were paid for by Las Iguanas. As ever, this doesn’t guarantee a positive review (if anything, I tend to be a harsher critic). In this case, we were very happy with the service, meal and venue. Thanks again.