Las Iguanas! (Take Four)

I held back on this post for a few weeks because I went to Las Iguanas two Tuesdays in a row for various birthday celebrations. The last time I went I did the standard main and dessert thing but this time I wanted to try out what tapas they had to offer, and luckily I had a friend that had the same thought. I said in my last post that their choice of main is very limited and all a bit same-y but the same cannot be said for the starter/tapas side of the menu. There is such a variety and it's just the right size so there's plenty to choose from but you're not over-faced. We decided to go for three in the end, nachos with chilli, empanadas with chicken???, the little pastry things with lamb and a side of curly fries.

Let's start with the nachos. They were incredible. It was a nice large portion that we still managed to polish off between the two of us and everything was in proportion. It came with sour cream, cheese, salsa and guacamole and we added the chilli for something like another £2. The chilli was really nice and I think that if I was just having that as a sharing starter then I'd have it again but in this situation the chilli wasn't a necessity, but it was a nice little addition. The nachos themselves were large and crunchy, well salted and overall just super tasty.

The spicy chicken quesadillas were very tasty but I think that it may have been my least favourite dish of the bunch. Not to say that it wasn't still good but compared to the other things that we had, it just lagged behind a little. The inside flavour was very good but overall I found it a little bread-y with not much filling. The portion size however was great as there were four meaning both of us got two each, which isn't too shabby.

These little pastries of wonder were seriously out of this world. They were the tender lamb empanadas and on paper to me it's like, yeah okay sounds alright, but they were so amazing that I think this was my favourite of all the dishes. The lamb tasted like lamb, obviously, and with the cranberry sauce it was very wintery but it still had a very fresh flavour. The pastry was thin and crisp but sturdy enough to be able to hold in all of the wonderful goodness that was inside. I can't explain how good this was so you're just going to have to go and try it for yourself. 

These curly fries were incredible. I mentioned them in my last Las Iguanas post as they came as a side with my meal and I'd say this time they were even better. They came with an aioli dip (which I also had last time) and neither of us two tapas sharers could get enough. It was creamy and garlic-y and writing about it now is making me want to eat a whole bucket of it. They weren't a bad price either and the portion size was pretty much the same as the other actual dishes.

Overall everything was delicious and the tapas definitely wins outright in this food establishment!

The Orange Tree!

The Orange Tree is a small pub in Nottingham city centre. It's always looked really appealing but despite living near to it the whole of last year I'd never been until recently. Inside it's very wooden, which I like a lot, and there's a mixture of normal tables and big comfy sofas, you can definitely feel the student vibes. It was a very impromptu lunch when we went so I stuck to the lighter items on the menu but they did some really amazing sounding mains and desserts which I'll have to go back and try.

In the end I went for the Homemade Fish Finger Sandwich with chips and boy was is good! I asked for it on brown bread which was so soft but the downside was that it had a very hard crust, however it felt homemade. The fish fingers were more like battered fish pieces as apposed to your standard Birdseye, which I was completely okay with and happily lapped up. You got two big ones of those and the biggest chips you will ever see. They were huge! Some of them were a little bit too hard for my liking but most were soft and melted in the mouth. Insane. Inside the sandwich there were some salad leaves and a tartare sauce which went really nicely with the fish and added something a little extra. I'm definitely going to go back to The Orange Tree again. It was a good price and for food as good as that you really can't complain.

Fat Cats! (Take Four)

I know, we're here again but can you blame me with such a good student discount?! This visit to the beloved Fat Cats was slightly different as this time I had a starter! I know right, what a turn around for the books. So without further ado let's jump in.

Because we were feeling adventurous on this visit we decided to sample one of their sharing starters and we went for the Mediterranean platter. I'm so glad that we did because this ended up being the star of the meal! It came with an olive salad, deep fried aubergines, goats cheese bruschetta, flatbreads, hummus, falafels and tzatziki. Everything was delicious, except maybe the salad but I'm not a salad person, and also the bruschetta because I don't like goats cheese. The tzatziki was cleansing and tasty and the hummus was out of this world! Everything went well with everything, like the aubergines tasted good with the hummus, etc. I've never had a falafel before and I really enjoyed them. They reminded me of onion bargiis as they had a curry as a flavour. My favourite thing out of everything was the hummus, it was creamy, tasty and the best I've ever had.

This is the smokey belly pork which I've had before and if you want to hear my thoughts on this you can read it here.

This cheesecake...is something else. It has to be the creamiest cheesecake I've ever had! It was white chocolate and raspberry flavour, although the raspberry flavour wasn't really prominent, which is one of my favourite flavour combinations when it comes to cheesecake. The cream that it came with was squirt cream from a can which didn't really add much and when I've had cheesecake here before, it came with pouring cream which was much better. The piece was huge but it was so delicious that I just want to eat it over and over again!

Betty's!

Betty's is one of my favourite places to eat ever so whenever I know we're going somewhere where one will be close, I pray that we might be giving it a visit. If you don't know what Betty's is, it's an old fashioned tea room in the north of England that sells things from afternoon tea to a full english breakfast. I've had a fair few things on the menu so this time, on our York trip, I branched out and went for the haddock, salmon and prawn gratin. It was smoked haddock, salmon and prawns in a hollandaise type sauce with a potato rosti with breadcrumbs on top. This was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. The fish was soft and tasty, especially the smoked haddock, and the sauce was to die for, so much flavour. The rosti was crispy on the outside and soft in the middle and just incredibly good. Everything was seasoned to perfection and the portion size was perfect. I can't rave about this place and the food enough, it's just insane. There are four destinations where Betty's resides, York, Harrogate, Northallerton and Ilkley. Other than the Northallerton one, I've been to the all of them and even had a baking course. I just love it so much, can you tell?!?

Bills! (Take Three)

Valentines day was a very special day for me. Full of romance and wonder, or just full of food and a really rubbish film (if you ever get the chance to watch GBF do, for the funny factor...it's that bad). Me and my friend Fiona went to Bills on the special occasion and as always it didn't disappoint. I had a burger cooked medium and it was so good! The meat was moist, the bun was sweet and the chips were so good. The portion size was the perfect amount as I managed to finish it all, which I don't always do when I go out to eat (bad i know). I could go on all day about how much I love Bills but if I had to give one criticism I'd say that the drinks are quite overpriced. My lemonade, which was small, was over £3 which I think it's a tad ridiculous. Just something to think about. Sorry about the short food post but I was satisfied so much by my burger that a dessert was just off the cards. Maybe next time (definitely next time).

Chiquito's!

It's been a while since I've done one of these food things on here and quite frankly I've missed it so let's jump back in shall we! A few days ago the 'Notts house crew' (I know, super cool) took a little outing to Chiquita's and it was amazingly good! I'd never been before and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised as I'd never normally think to go. If I had one complaint to start it off I thought that the menu was a little bit too big, but even though there was a little of choice it was the same thing in different forms, like you can have chicken in fajita, taco or salad form. So if you're indecisive that might not be too great. I liked the atmosphere and the feeling that you were abroad, while not having to leave the centre of Nottingham.

For my starter I had chicken and chorizo enchiladas. These were very good. There's a theme running in these dishes where the portion sizes are just spot on, not too much but not leaving me hanging. It came with what tasted like a tomato/mint salsa which left the mouth feeling fresh and cleansed which I liked as it was a contrast to the hearty enchilada. The inside was filled with chicken, chorizo and a lot of sweetcorn, which at times felt like it was the only thing inside. It was the perfect amount of spice, just enough to give a little bit of heat which is fine by me.

For my main I had the Steak chilli and rice tacos and boy were they good. The tacos were crispy and the meat was soft and full of flavour. I'm a huge fan of sour cream and they just mad the tacos ten times better, I even liked the cheese, and I'm not that big of a cheese fan. There were three tacos which was the perfect amount but it came with a lot of salad which I thought was a bit unnecessary. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish!

Churros was the only dessert that I felt that I should have, Mexico and what not, and they were so good! Again, perfect portion and tasty sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. The chocolate sauce was very nice but I'd have preferred it if it was a little runnier and warm. I also liked the addition of the strawberries which tasted good in the chocolate, yummy!