Award-winning Spanish restaurant Ibérica will be opening the doors to its first Scottish restaurant in St Vincent Street, Glasgow later this month, bringing authentic Spanish cuisine to the city with a focus on food from the region of Asturias.
Ibérica’s beautifully-designed ‘casual dining’ restaurants offer guests an exceptional range of regional Spanish food and drink, including hand-carved hams, rare cheeses and an extensive range of beers, wines, sherries and ciders from some of Spain’s finest artisan producers.
Opening on 30th September, Glasgow diners will be able to enjoy a range of Spanish eating and drinking experiences in the stunningly-refurbished restaurant. A bar menu will feature bocadillos (sandwiches) and pinchos (small portions), plus there will be a set lunch and an a la carte dinner menu featuring tapas, grilled meats and fish – as well as an extensive drinks and cocktail menu.
The restaurant will also feature a delicatessen with lovingly-sourced products including a collection of olive oils, three different hams, cured meats, preserved fish and vegetables, turrones (traditional Spanish nougat) and freshly made bocadillos available to eat at the bar or takeaway.
This is Ibérica’s eighth restaurant in the UK, but the first investment in Scotland for the Spanish company – which will also see further growth with an Edinburgh restaurant planned for 2017.
The Glasgow venue, which will seat 113 (including 37 at the bar and an elegant private dining space for 10), sits on the corner of St Vincent Street and Hope Street. It is based in a late Victorian, red sandstone building which was at one time a Royal Bank of Scotland – now painstakingly refurbished by the Iberica team according to the vision of esteemed Spanish designer, Lazaro Rosa Violan.
As one of the top three restaurant designers in the world, Violan has worked with Ibérica to design all of their restaurants, yet each has its own individual look and feel, evocative of the ambiance of Spain. The Glasgow restaurant’s design emphasizes the Celtic heritage shared by Northern Spain and Scotland, and includes a set of Asturian bagpipes.
Ibérica’s Executive Head Chef, Nacho Manzano has an impressive two Michelin stars to his name for his celebrated restaurant Casa Marcial and a further star for La Salgar, both based in Asturias in the North West of Spain. Using his experience and know-how of the best Spanish produce, he has developed an evolving a la carte menu which changes seasonally that will offer guests a real insight into authentic Spanish tapas in a relaxed setting.
Speaking about the opening, Marcos Fernandez, Iberica’s MD said:
“With so many similarities between the north of Spain and Scotland, we’ve been very keen to connect with our Celtic roots and open a restaurant in Glasgow. We’re aware that there is a lively restaurant scene in the city and the people are always keen to try something new, so we’re sure the authentic, high-quality yet affordable dining experience we can offer at Ibérica will definitely be of interest.
In fact, in honour of our first restaurant in Scotland, we offer a speciality dish that’s exclusive to our Glasgow restaurant – the celebrated Botillo from El Bierzo, which encompasses chopped and marinated cuts of pork, lightly smoked before cooking. It’s our own version of haggis!”
