Las Iguanas say HOLA! To Nottingham
July 2004

'As loud and proud as Joaquin Cortez's Cuban heels, as intense as Antonio Banderas's gaze and as brazenly sumptuous as J-Lo's curves'. This is just one reviewer's take on the culinary delights awaiting diners at Las Iguanas Restaurant & Cachaçaria who launch their unique blend of Latin American style on Nottingham on 30th July.

Imagine a night out in Rio - edgy and energetic. Add a backdrop of contemporary décor with specially commissioned furniture and artefacts flown in from Brasil, natural wood, stone, mosaic and glass, a soundtrack of sultry salsa and superb fresh food served with a smile and you've got Las Iguanas.

The award winning Latin American specialists will be serving up a feast of fresh and imaginative regional dishes with a twist. On the menu you'll find influence from countries including Argentina, Chile, Brasil and Puerto Rico, each with their own diverse flavours. Fresh fish, chicken and steak all get the Latin treatment along with favourites like Fajitas, but there's also plenty for vegetarians and children, and parties are welcomed with typical Las Iguanas hospitality.

Visit the Cachaçaria (ca-sha-sa-ria) for an education in real cocktails. Cachaça, the Brazilian sugar-cane based spirit (and the third biggest selling spirit worldwide), provides the inspiration for a bar menu overflowing with fresh watermelon and berries, honey and Brasilian limes, created with love and attention to detail. 'Las Iguanas Cachaça', is the perfect finishing touch, produced from Las Iguanas' sugar cane plantation just outside Rio de Janeiro in partnership with João Luiz, one of Brazil's premier distillers.

General Manager Michael Parnham comments "We are delighted to be adding a new dimension to an already diverse eating and drinking offer in Nottingham. We will be offering the ultimate Latin American dining experience, capturing the energy and spirit of Latin culture, and we also hope that our guests will pick up a little more knowledge about this fascinating continent along the way."

Las Iguanas stirs up a new blend
October 2003

In Latin America the drink of choice is cachaça (pronounced ca-sha-sa). It's always been a favourite at Las Iguanas too, and now the Bristol-based Latin American chain has gone one step further and invested in its very own cachaça production plant just outside Rio in Brazil. At the Magnifica Ranch raw sugar cane is pressed, fermented and distilled before being exported to the UK in branded Las Iguanas Magnifica Cachaça bottles.

The fast-expanding restaurant chain has such a belief in this potent spirit that they are re-branding their bars as Cachaçarias - cachaça bars for lounging and enjoying a Caipirinha or three. The scene is set and the mood is Rio at carnival time or a night out in Sao Paulo, sultry, sassy and unpredictable.

By volume cachaça is already the world's third most popular spirit, despite being little known outside South America. Master distiller Joao Luiz is attempting to turn around the fortunes of this indigenous drink by producing quality brands matured in wooden barrels and the spirit's success is set to soar in the UK if Las Iguanas plans work out.

But no one else is better placed to spread the word than the team behind Las Iguanas, who have dedicated the past 13 years to spreading Latin American culture across the UK. The original Las Iguanas opened in April 1991 in St Nicholas Street, Bristol, and offered an exciting and exotic menu of dishes from Brazil, Chile and Peru in an interior decorated with a palette of hot Latin colours. Cool, up to the minute salsa tunes were the final touch.

Las Iguanas is now the largest privately owned group of Latin American restaurants in the UK with restaurants in Bristol, Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leicester and Sheffield. The new restaurants have a contemporary twist, but all keep the feel of that first restaurant in Bristol; a great atmosphere, first class service for our guests and fabulous, innovative food created from the freshest ingredients.

Having successfully repeated the formula in other cities, it was time to give the Bristol branch in Whiteladies Road a makeover and install a Cachaçaria. This is what awaits customers old and new. We'd recommend a Caipirinha (whole lime crushed with sugar, topped with cracked ice and Las Iguanas Magnifica Cachaça), but whatever you choose from the Cachaçaria be prepared to be intoxicated by a really authentic Latin spirit.

Las Iguanas Unleashed on Leicester
September 2003

Las Iguanas Restaurant & Cachaçaria launch their unique blend of South American style on Leicester this September.

Take a backdrop of contemporary décor with specially commissioned furniture and artefacts flown in from Brazil, natural wood, stone, mosaic and leather, add a soundtrack of sultry salsa and superb fresh food served with a smile and you've got Las Iguanas.

The award winning Latin American specialists will be serving up a feast of fresh and imaginative regional dishes with a twist. On the menu you'll find influences from the continent's twenty one countries, each with their own diverse flavours. Fresh fish, chicken and duck all get the Latin treatment, but there's also plenty for vegetarians and children and parties are welcomed with typical Las Iguanas hospitality.