By Nathan Lloyd & Heather Wood
Myself and Heather were invited by the Swansea branch of Las Iguanas to try out their new Winter menu. So on Wednesday evening, still reeling from the shocking result from the US Election, we needed cheering up! What better way to cheer up than in an environment that celebrates and embraces Latin American culture?
The building is part of a recent development at the top of Wind St that gives great views of the 12th Century Swansea Castle ruins. The atmosphere is great with a South American market vibe and ‘Favela chic’ exposed industrial features. Reds & yellows, chrome and wood with splashes of concrete give it a cosy but modern feel. The height of the space is massive but the ceiling is lowered to an intimate level with a complex network of (probably just decorative!) air conditioning pipes.
We started our night off with some cocktails, taking advantage of their extensive 2-4-1 range. Their bar at the front of the restaurant is a great place to start a night out when you’re at that point where you’re still sober enough to talk and actually enjoy your drink! They have a good selection to suit every taste, including an off-piste menu and a good selection of cervezas like the Inedit from Estrella Damm. Plenty of foodie cred with this one as it was masterminded by the geniuses at ElBulli. Myself and Tom had some classic Caipiriñas while Heather & Hazel went for a pair of Vanilla Mai Tais.
No starters were needed as we got into right into ordering mains (with plenty of sides ;). I ordered the new Buenos Aires Burger with cassava fries (50p extra). It’s a standard chain-restaurant burger, which is nice enough, but the toppings made it stand out; punchy aioli, aromatic chimichurri, sweet caramelised onions & smoky chorizo were great additions! However, the chorizo was a tad too greasy, and I ended up with its paprika ladened oil all over my hands – but it was muy rico! The fries were great too, fluffy inside with a crisp exterior and perfect to mop up the spicy chorizo oil 😉 We also ordered some Patatas Bravas in bits for the table, with spicy chipotle sauce & more of my favourite aioli. For those who are Vegetarian / Vegan, they even have a separate menu full of SFV meals!
Heather ordered the new dish to the menu, Sea Bass, Crab and Prawn. This is a sea bass fillet on a spring onion rice with white crab and peeled king prawns in a tomato, coriander, basil, parsley, achiote and red pepper sauce. Tom also had this dish. The dish was complimented by the fish but the achiote and red pepper sauce balanced out the dish resulting in utter perfection! One would think that the fish would overpower the palate of the dish, but it was surprisingly mellow without losing its potency.
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We finished the evening with some South American desserts. I had the new Kahlua chocolate cortado, an interpretation of the traditional sweet South American coffee, made with condensed milk. This one is more like a chocolate pot with a cinnamony churro for dipping. Avoid if you’re on a diet as it has layers of Kahlua laced ganache, sickly-sweet Dulce de Leche & condensed milk!
As chain restaurants go Las Iguanas hits hard on flavour and offers a great range of food and drink that should suit all tastes and palates. It’s a shade on the pricey side but great for celebrating the end of the semester, Xmas parties, society gatherings etcetera.
¡Gracias/ Obrigado Las Iguanas Swansea![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
