Iberico is an upscale tapas restaurant in Nottingham. They offer Spanish tapas and world tapas. They won awards and are part of the well regarded "world service" group.
One thing they make a song & dance about is their cheese & charcuterie menu. Now I'm not a cheese lover, so I can't comment on that part, ham & pork however I do know. They have a fabulous selection, right at the top (at a heftyish 13 pounds) is the ibreico black foot jamon. Its aged air dried ham from spain, using free range pigs fed on acorns, it is very tasty & always worth having as a treat, so I planned to order it. That was before I saw a new addition to the menu. Beedham's pork shoulder. Beedham's is a multi-award winning butcher nearby, I don't go there often as I have a different butcher, who has his own cows. I like to meet my steak before I eat it (I'm sentimental like that), this however seemed to good to miss. The ham was served in translucent slivers on a large wooden plater, it was sweet, light, wonderful ham. Not quite the pinnacle the iberico is but very good value indeed.
As its tapas I tend to stay to the Spanish side of the menu as the squid (with lime salt & a garlic aoli) is a must , some crunchy patas bravas, the slow roast pork belly and a swordfish carpaccio rounded out the rest. The pork had a proper crunchy crackle and then melted in the mouth. The swordfish carpaccio was another newcomer, paper thin slices of swordfish served in a vinegared oil dressing, with a light spicing (corriander & red peppercorns were there).
Dessert was a fabulous chilled ginger syrup cake with buttermilk ice cream. The acidity of the ice cream taking the edge of the syrup and bits of crystalized ginger livening up the sweet cake.
All in all a great night and at 50 pounds for two including drinks & service a mostly affordable(*) treat.
* they do a ten pound set lunch, which has been voted the cities best, against some stiff competition.
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