I spent my 21st birthday basically just… eating. I woke up, ate some birthday cake and headed into town to find the perfect restaurant for a nice, but not too filling lunch – I was going for a family meal later on, after all.

I had been meaning to visit Ibérica for a few months, especially since they offer a great industry discount on the Code App (seriously, if you work in hospitality this app is definitely worth it). The interior was welcoming – on a rather quiet Thursday lunch time we had many tables to choose from and, since the weather blessed us that day, we sat in the outside conservatory-like section of the restaurant. Surrounded by a variety of green plants and white furniture, it genuinely felt like we were on holiday.

To our delight, they offered Sangria (two types: classic or with prosecco) and we opted for a pitcher of the classic just to feel like we were back in Tenerife like last year. If Francis could have poured it without spilling it everywhere (just as the waiter/manager walked over) it would have been perfect.

As someone who works in a tapas restaurant, I had a feeling we would have been better off ordering a little bit at a time since people ALWAYS over order on small dishes… of course all common sense went out of the window when we opened the menus and wanted almost everything. In the end we ordered 6 dishes between us (not including the complementary olives) which included:

· Half & half selection of cheese & cured meat cuts

· Patatas bravas

· Ibérica burgers

· Pitu chicken rice

· Beef tomato & salmorejo

· Crispy aubergine

The half & half selection of cheese & cured meats arrived first. Comprised of 3 cured meats (Cecina, Chorizo and Salchichón), 3 cheeses (Manchego, Mahón & organic Sujaira) and quince jelly, this board was a tough act to follow.

The next collection of dishes did impress us though; the patatas bravas, crispy aubergine and the salmorejo were all gorgeous and the portions were quite big, too. The bravas sauce was lovely; not too spicy and the potatoes were fried perfectly, sat on top a serving of aioli. The aubergine was fried in a tempura batter and covered in an Asian-esque sauce. One complaint was that I completely overlooked the “beef tomato and…” on the menu, and instead of receiving a small bowl of salmorejo we were faced with a whole, peeled beef tomato. I hate tomatoes. We didn’t complain, firstly because the salmorejo was honestly amazing but also because it was my own fault. Nonetheless, when our waiter saw that we didn’t eat it, he took it off our bill.

Finally, we got the Ibérica burgers (two sliders with pork burgers and piparra peppers inside two tiny buns) which came with a lovely sauce and MORE patatas on the side. We also got the Pitu rice and chicken with the burgers; the rice was similar to the rice in paella with fa chicken thigh sat on top along with a grilled red pepper (love). By now we were stuffed, but we managed to finish it and obviously had to look at the dessert menu.

I went for the ‘textures of chocolate’ which was basically as deconstructed chocolate cake – I genuinely can’t think of a better dessert – and Francis ordered the Gloria cheesecake which is described on the menu as “A rich cheesecake with raspberry sorbet, quince & shaved Zuheros sheeps cheese from Andalucía”. Who would have thought? Cheese. On top of cheesecake. It was actually really good, Francis managed to finish the whole thing!