One of the best meals ever | Bar Iberia Nottingham

Prepare yourself for one of the best tapas meals ever. I know, bold claims, but it's true. When I popped down to Nottingham on my visit a couple of weeks ago we went out for a meal and cocktails. Wanting to try something, we settled on Bar Iberico in Hockley. They didn't take bookings but because we really fancied tapas and wanted to try it out we risked it and turned up at 7.30pm on a Friday. There was no issue, we were straight in and there were plenty of tables free downstairs (however I would say by 8pm it was pretty full). The place itself was really cool. Lots of wood which made it feel cosy and at times it did feel like you could be eating delicious tapas abroad. 

There was plenty to choose from on the menu without it being overwhelming. There were three of us there and we got eight dishes in total, which worked out great for us. We pretty much all of the dishes, the only thing we left a lot of was the patatas fritas (we ordered two portions, we only really needed one). We went for:

Patatas fritas - two portions

Calamari

Chorizo

Sweetcorn fritters

Crispy chicken

Garlic and onion tortilla

Cheese board

First up, I didn't touch the cheese board but that's because I don't like raw cheese (as in cheese that isn't cooked and on like a pizza or something). Everything else I dabbled in and it was ALL delicious. My favourite were the sweetcorn fritters, they were sweet and crispy, a winning combination. The chorizo was also great. Lots of chunky pieces that were filled with the usual delicious chorizo flavour and they weren't at all chewy. Portion size wise there's plenty to go around. The crispy chicken was a perfect example of this - it was never ending! But because they were in smallish bowls we weren't over faced. Speaking of the crispy chicken that was amazing. Sticky and sweet but SUPER crispy on the outside and moist in the middle. I can't describe how good all of this was. I'm sure my friends agree with me, everything was delish.

Seriously if you're ever in Nottingham and fancy an amazing meal out, give this a go. Chilled atmosphere, buzzing vibes and delicious food. Win win win.

I'm heading off to Edinburgh in a couple of months, if anyone has any food recommendations of where to go please let me know!

La Tasca!

O. M. G. This has to be one of THE best meals out I have ever had (be prepared for more bold statements). As you will know if you read my blog last week it was my birthday and to celebrate I invited a group of my favourite people out to La Tasca for tapas. I've never been there before and I love that kind of food so it seemed like the obvious choice. I had some vouchers to use as well which we were extremely grateful in the end because it's not a cheap meal, but this is reflected in the quality. To make things easier, and to make sure that everyone got the kind of thing that they wanted, we split into groups of 2/3 and ordered 3 meals each, but different so that we ended up having six between two. My pairing chose two portions of Patatas Bravas, which are roast potatoes in a tomato sauce and it came with alioli on top which is a tasty garlic mayonnaise. These were insanely good! Tasty and soft but with a little crisp from the skin. We probably could have shared one of these as I didn't finish mine but they were so good. We ordered the standard calamari which were crispy from the batter but to my delight the squid was perfectly cooked, soft and tender rather than tough and chewy. Big fan. The chorizo was a big favourite of the table and there's no surprise why. It wasn't chewy in the slightest and was full of flavour. The oil it was cooked in was also super tasty. Albondigas was next which were meatballs in a tomato sauce. Loved these! The sauce had a slight heat to it and the meatballs were soft and melted in the mouth. My favourite of the whole lot were the chicken croquets which were a creamy chicken sauce in little breadcrumbed balls. Insane! I can't really explain how good these were but trust me, they were. We also had garlic bread which was also INSANE! I seriously want to go back here so much that writing this is making me sad because I know that whatever I eat for tea tonight won't be as good as the food there.