Georgia - Iberia Restaurant

Restaurant: Iberia Restaurant

Location: 294-296 Caledonian Rd, Islington, London N1 1BA

Date of visit: 5 October 2019

Time of visit: 8pm

I was quite surprised to find that I had a choice to make when it came to deciding which Georgian restaurant to visit in London. I had clearly underestimated the appeal and market for Georgian cuisine in the capital. I was then fairly confused by the fact the most favoured restaurant that popped up during my research was called "Iberia". A quick bit of reading answered why - the important thing is that the Caucasian Iberians are not related to the "Iberians" of Spain and Portugal.

After reserving a table for two via the website earlier in the week, we turned up at Iberia just after 8pm on this Saturday evening.

We stepped into the intimate restaurant, to find two waitresses both very much engaged in serving other diners. We were greeted by one of them, and we advised them that we had a table for two booked. She gestured to the general space in the restaurant and asked us to choose a table, rather than be taken to one. To be fair, that's ok with us. She was busy. We're more than capable of doing that bit ourselves.

The menus came very quickly, and seemed very similar to the menu on the website. But a little pricier on the night than online.

It's a very impressive menu, offering a wide selection of hot and cold starters, breads, main courses, fish dishes, sauces and extras. Everything was presented with the name of the dish in transliterated Georgian, with the English description below.

When it came to ordering, there was nothing in the way of a Georgian beer option on the menu, so I opted for the closest thing they had which was the Russian lager Baltika. And was told they had none. So I had a bottle of Heineken instead. Elle would normally have contemplated the wine, but it started at £6.50 a glass. On the plus side, it was imported Georgian wine, but still too much for one glass. And a risk at that. So she too opted for a Heineken.

We seemed to hit a turning point here. From this point on, the level of service seemed to change. It became a bit more attentive and warmer. To the point Elle and I discussed, quietly, if we'd been "rumbled". Did they know we were there to review the experience? We always try and avoid giving that away. Anyway, we'll take it!

We were then asked for our food order. First we went for a shared hot starter option, imeruli khachapuri - flatbread stuffed with Georgian cheese. For my main course, I asked for tsitsila adjikashi - spatchcocked fried spring chicken in spicy hot sauce served with baby potatoes. Elle opted for the garlic version of the same dish, chqmeruli.

This was a fairly small restaurant with a lower section and an upper section, both hosting a handful of tables. We opted to sit in the upper section. The layout of the restaurant actually reminded me of our visit to the Donde Carlos restaurant in Shepherd's Bush when we reached "Colombia" in this project three and a half years ago.

It was a very comfortable environment, and cosily decorated. The walls were adorned with dozens of kantsi horns, tradition Georgian drinking horns, The music was really good too. Elle was particularly enjoying the chilled vibe of the music - a mix of Georgian pop and covers of English language tracks - all quite soulful, until it stopped. Then started again. Then skipped to something else. Then stopped again. And started again. And stopped. And repeated. For the entire duration of our visit. It seems to completely escape the attention of anyone else in the restaurant, especially the waitresses. But it was quite distracting.

The bread came fairly quickly, and was a little uninspiring at first glance. It was fairly small, and cut into quarters. Not very well fired, or particularly cooked looking at all. For me, a Scotsman, almost like a large uncooked potato scone. On eating though, it was very tasty. Well stuffed with at least two types of cheese - one was a cheddar-like cheese, and another quite like goats cheese. With it being cheese-stuffed bread, the two quarters were quite satisfying. Especially as a starter

The mains also came in good time, and these looked impressive! Albeit deadly... the ceramic pots were insanely hot, of which no warning was given. Again, the portion didn't look particularly big, but the contents looked exceptional. You could almost taste it with your eyes - as a spicy dish, and for a spice lover, the colours in this were perfect and very encouraging! And the flavours were fantastic. The spice kick was really intense, and went really well with the other flavours. The chicken was cooked to perfection, but with it being spring chicken, the bones were really something to contend with. And something I completely forgot about. It was a laborious task at times, and had I remembered this at time of ordering I might have actually opted for something else. But then I would've missed out on what must be one of the finest dishes on their menu. The potatoes were very useful for mopping up the remaining chilli and herb sauce, and soaking up the broth. Not a huge amount of potatoes in there, but still good to have.

As mentioned, Elle's dish was basically the garlic version of mine. And it was as fiercely garlicky as mine was intensely spicy. Comments on the chicken were the same as mine - tasty but troublesome. Elle seemed to be left with more broth in the bowl than I was, but mine did seem to have a thicker mixed sauce generally, compared to Elle's crushed garlic and herbs, with chicken broth below. Portion size was on par with mine... small but mighty.

With two meals containing hundreds of tiny bones, it was necessary to have somewhere to put these bones. There was nowhere else within these small dishes that they could be safely "discarded". So Elle asked one of the waitresses (the more nervous, less assured of the two) for a "side plate for the bones". The waitress returned with two pepper shakers. It's awful, but we both laughed. Quite a lot. Not at the waitress, of course! Just at the situation. I was amused that it was Elle being misunderstood for a change (it's usually me). We apologised for our reaction (no offence seemed to have been taken, which was a relief) and Elle tried to explain again. The waitress queried if we were asking for salt. The other waitress (the more confident, assured of the two) overheard this back and forth and explained in Georgian to the other that we wanted a plate, which came straight away. (At one point later, Elle accidentally dropped a knife on the floor, which was almost instantly picked up and replaced).

Our final impression of the restaurant was that it was fairly pricey for what it was. It was high in quality, but definitely could have done with a touch more quantity. The food itself couldn't be faulted though. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, it lacks some finer touches. The service was just odd at times. Inconsistent - either really good, or really lacking. And to have music that plays for no longer than 20 seconds before stopping and repeating, for hours, is entirely avoidable and really quite unforgivable. Clearly the back of house is in good order here. The front of house needs some work.

They're on Uber Eats. Just do it that way instead.