One of the restaurants that helped put Nottingham on the foodie map, Bar Iberico is celebrating its 10th anniversary today (August 20).
We asked co-owner Dan Lindsay about highlights and challenges of running the Spanish tapas spot (baribericotapas.com), his favourite dishes and drinks on the menu, what makes the restaurant so special, and more. Today there is 20% off food, and tomorrow (August 21) a bottle of house wine is £20. Plus, there are throwback dishes on the menu the whole week.
If you’re looking for the best restaurants in Nottingham, Bar Iberico is an excellent place to visit. For more interviews like this, subscribe to The Notts Edit to receive our articles in your inbox for free.
Bar Iberico’s Dan Lindsay on 10 years of the iconic Nottingham restaurant
By Eve Smallman
10 years of Bar Iberico! How are you feeling about this?
I’m really happy to have reached a really big milestone, and so proud of what we’ve achieved to this point.
Tell us a bit about why you opened Bar Iberico in the first place
We had Iberico World Tapas (ibericotapas.com) providing a more refined dining experience, which was oversubscribed at the time, and we felt that there was a more casual all-day offering that would be really well received by the public. We went for a much more relaxed style – no bookings and a more prominent position on the high street – and that was the main reason.
What have been some highlights?
We won best independent business in Nottingham two years in a row at It’s in Nottingham’s Nottingham Independents awards. We also won restaurant of the year at the Nottingham Food and Drink Awards. Those two things were really nice to have – those endorsements were a good morale booster for the staff.
What have been some challenges?
Going through COVID, diversifying the business, and having a takeout operation of the business. That was a big one, and also doing lots to help with vulnerable people that were housebound, so we did lots of meals for FareShare and supported the community that way. We were really proud to do that.
We also did an outside catering at Winter Wonderland in 2018, which was a real challenge for us, providing an outside catering element in a very tricky space. But that was a challenge that we enjoyed doing.
One of the more recent challenges we’re facing is the very well-publicised difficulties that the hospitality trade is facing at the moment. It’s a bit of a perfect storm with regards to the cost of living crisis, energy utilities, wage increases, and National Insurance contributions. There are lots of difficult situations for us to be in, and only a certain amount of that we can pass on to customers. So we’re all struggling a bit with that at the moment.
What are some of your favourite dishes and drinks on the menu (can be past or present)?
The pork belly pinchos with quince glaze is definitely up there as my favourite dish that we’ve done. Also the iceberg lettuce with Nashi pear and a soy sesame dressing – it’s one of those dishes that people can never believe is as tasty as it is for what’s in it. It’s a really unique dish. Then, I always tend to lean towards white wine – you can’t beat a nice glass of Albariño when you’re having tapas.
What is it about Bar Iberico that you think makes it so special?
It ticks a lot of boxes for people. They know they can come down and get a great meal for what we consider to be a pretty reasonable price for the quality of the food. It’s very accessible and suitable for families. It’s also great for special occasions and can go really well with date nights.
Single diners also love being there because you don’t feel uncomfortable sitting on your own at the bar. It seemed to hit the nail on the head of what people wanted in Nottingham.
What are some of your other favourite places to eat and drink in Nottingham at the moment?
I always give a big shout-out to a very small Japanese restaurant and takeaway on Carlton Road called Sosu (sosujapanese.co.uk). I go there once a week, minimum. It’s near my office, and for me, that’s the best Japanese food in the city. The ramens are amazing, and the sushi is exceptional. It is also family-run, which I really love. When you go there, you really feel that it’s something they feel very passionate about.
For special occasions, I would go somewhere like Langar Hall (langarhall.com), which is somewhere I worked when I was a kid, where I first started my training in the industry, and that’s what inspired me to get into it. I always said that it’s Imogen Skirving’s fault – the sadly passed away owner of Langar Hall – that I’m now in catering. We used to have a bit of a laugh about it when she was here.
Future plans?
I’m doing the hotel at the old Via Fossa site, so I’m very much involved in that at the moment. Then, I’m sure that we will look to do more restaurant-based stuff in the future between myself and my business partner Jacque [Ferreira], who’s my business partner and executive chef.
baribericotapas.com
@bariberico
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