Las Iguanas Afternoon Tea With A Twist Review

Las Iguanas ever changing and inventive have launched their newest idea; afternoon tea with a Mexican twist! Now who would have thought this could be possible and The Ritz & Co must look out because it’s very good.

The tea has to be booked in advance and we decided to go the whole nine yards and have afternoon tea and tapas for two at £35.00. This includes two ‘smoking Cuban cigars’ (wraps presented in a Cuban cigar box with dry ice to very good effect) two different types of taco, two types of tapas and a selection of cakes and biscuits, all served on a three-tiered stand, plus the all-important rum teapot. The rum teapot probably needs some explanation : I was expecting a tea fortified with minimal rum, but this sets the afternoon off to a good start being a large squat glass teapot with a centre dip full of ice-cubes and in it Havana Club 7 year old rum, and chilled grapefruit, lemon and tea, garnished with tiny flowers. It makes a marvellous cocktail and is all the better for being poured from a teapot!

After just a few sips of my ‘tea’ I was ready to salsa with the best of them to the cheeky chill-out music being played but luckily the smoking Cuban cigars turned up, so I kept to my seat. They were excellent, good theatre on presentation and very tasty, one being pulled pork with Emmental and dill pickle and the other garlic mushroom with smoked cheese – this one was in something I’d not tried before, a toasted beetroot tortilla, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

We liked the chicken tinga taco, and the pulled roasted jackfruit in smoky beetroot chipotle sauce certainly set us on fire and was a different taste in a good way. We hoovered up the tapas, crispy cheese cubes with sticky chilli jam and panko crumb chipotle chicken – would we make it to the top tier of the cake stand for the sweet things – yes we did! Our particular favourites were the tres leche cake, soaked pieces of sponge with a kind of caramel topping and Peruvian biscuits, a bit like macaroons with shortbread rolled in desiccated coconut.

This was a great experience and lots of fun, (not all due to the rum teapot where we showed admirable restraint by not taking up the offer of a second pot for £10) and we’d eaten so much that any supper was ruled out so it proved stonking good value as well!

Jacquie Vowles