Las Iguanas opened their Woking restaurant with a bang, showcasing delicious food, friendly service and a great atmosphere to Charles Raspin
I spent an evening at Las Iguanas during their opening celebrations. Unfortunately, this was shortly after the clocks jumped forward, so I arrived almost an hour late. Fortunately, the manager - one Jimmy Sanchez - just grinned, welcomed me at last, and I was at a table in moments.
This attitude - welcoming, cheerful, accommodating - characterised everyone we met that evening. It's no surprise that Las Iguanas has won award after award as an employer - its staff clearly love their work.
Even the restaurant itself reflected this relaxed, joyful tone. Geometric patterns decorated the walls and floor, bright shades of wood and terracotta-faded primary colours suggesting the warmth of Latin America without resorting to anything so tacky as a sombrero or stuffed llama. Tasteful partitions continued the theme, and - along with an extensive bar - served to control lines of sight, allowing a sense of privacy while still allowing the enjoyable bustle of a full restaurant to filter through.
And make no mistake, it was a full restaurant.
Enough about the settings, though - you want to know about the food.
We started off with two starters - fish tacos, and prawns. Both were perfect for sharing with fingers. We were going to have three starters, originally, but our waiter advised us that the portions were pretty big - she was telling the truth, if our bulging stomachs at the end of the evening were anything to go by!
The prawns were simply delicious. The fish tacos were a little bland - but they came with a sweet chilli sauce that gave them a lovely kick. All of the condiments were delicious, in fact, right up to the coconut I sprinkled on my main.
Speaking of the main - my partner and I were completely lost in the face of a Latin American menu. Sure, there were more familiar options with a Latin twist - like burgers, chicken, or steak - but we didn't want to be boring.
We asked our waitress Toria for some recommendations, and she pointed us to the Brazilian section of the menu. As it turned out, she wasn't Brazilian at all, she was Italian - but she knew her stuff!
My xinxim curry was gorgeous, a peanut-y mix of chicken and crayfish kept bubbling in a heated bowl, with a plate of garlic rice, beans and sweet plaintains. I sprinkled coconut over it to taste. On the other side of the table, a cordero rack of glazed lamb arrived, with a garlic and chili-flavoured mash.
For a time, the only noises coming from the table were the sounds of chewing, the murmurs of enjoyment, and the occasional "oh, you've got to try this - and dip that in the sauce, it's lovely".
I was driving, so I stuck to a beautifully-mixed virgin pina colada - I do love that drink, and I've not had the chance to enjoy one since my last proper holiday. That's not to say the table was completely dry, however - Las Iguanas is famed for its cocktails, and it'd be a dreadful shame not to give them a shot.
Thankfully, we had a better chance than most - we shanghaid Luke, the resident cocktail expert, over to our table before we ordered. He brought a bucket of ice, a cutting board of limes, a bottle of Las Iguanas' own brand of cachaça, and a whole lot of sugar. We were going to make our own caipirinha, the restaurant's signature drink.
As Luke cut the limes into eighths, he explained the origins of caipirinha - it started life as a peasant's drink, though (he assured us) the recipe used in the restaurant was rather more refined. Brazilian peasants would take cachaça - a kind of rum distilled from sugarcane - and add limes for flavour, then sugar for sweetness.
As we ground at the limes with long-handled pestles, tipped in sugar, he explained that Brazil made around 2 billion litres of caipirinha each year, and exported less than a tenth, leaving enough for every man, woman and child to drink one-and-a-half litres each week.
Party country indeed.
I sipped at mine - strong flavour, strong alcohol (though that might have been down to my pouring), while the other glass quickly emptied, and my partner took a closer look at the cocktails menu. Like the food menu, it was divided by region, with offerings from Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and beyond. Skipping over such spectacles as the Zombie Skull, a mixture of four rums and other drinks topped with burning rum and absinthe, we decided on the Dark N' Stormy, rum topped with ginger beer and a slice of ginger.
And then another caipirinha. And then another Dark N' Stormy.
The cocktails, apparently, were delicious.
When the evening ended, I was stuffed and smiling. I intend to go back to Las Iguanas, with family or friends, and I'll recommend it to absolutely anyone willing to try new things.
