Fiesta Del Asado Restaurant Review

The other week we took advantage of some child free time to visit the Fiesta Del Asado Restaurant, Hagley Road, Birmingham.  I’ve been wanting to go for ages: I have fond memories of an excellent South American restaurant in Lisbon and I do like a good steak.

The Fiesta del Asado restaurant is in an attractive building that used to be the Greek Consulate.  Outside it’s got the blue and white colours of the Argentinian flag and a large painted sun which brings to mind somewhere sunnier than Britain usually is. Inside the decor reflects the Argentinian theme, but perhaps harking back to earlier times with nice touches like a vintage public telephone.

We started our evening with a gin and tonic while we studied the menu.  You know you are off to a good start when you are offered a choice of gins (Tanqueray and Hendricks). We also selected a bottle of red (well we were planning to have some red meat) and the staff were happy to provide us with a large jug of tap water too.

When we came to order the staff were very helpful and knowledgable about the dishes they offer and I was persuaded out of my first choice the A Sado de Tira which is a cross-cut of beef cooked on the bone, as it would have required more effort than I wanted to give to eat it.

To start with I ordered Morcilla Curada, a smoked black sausage flavoured with paprika and caramelised onion. This had the texture and appearance of a black pudding with a smoky flavour and a little kick of heat.  My husband had the Rabas Fritas, which is describes as crisp baby squid rings with aioli sauce.  Sometimes squid can be a bit chewy, but the baby squid was very easy to eat.  The aioli sauce had a delicate flavour that didn’t overpower its accompaniment.

For my main course I eventually plumped for the Bife de Angosta, a 16oz single muscle steak taken from the loin of the animal.  It was a big, old piece of meat as you’d expect.  It was sliced thickly and is always served medium rare. My steak came with a generous side salad and a salsa dip, but if you want any fries or other vegetables or sauces, you’ll have to order them separately.  To be honest I’d have expected it to have come with some fries and a sauce.  Despite its size, my piece of beef was very tender and cooked to perfection.  Fiesta Del Asado pride themselves on the quality of their meat and their beef is dry aged for a minimum of 28 days.  All of Fiesta Del Asado’s beef, lamb and chicken is free range and ethically farmed.

Meanwhile my husband opted for a pork dish: Cerdo asado lentamente y batatas.  His piece of pork was almost as big as my steak at 15oz.  It was slow roasted fore rib of pork, served with a sweet potato garlic mash and wilted greens.

When you go for a treat meal out it seems wrong to go without a pudding, so we didn’t.  I chose the Almond and Amaretto Tart with Honey Ice Cream which was divine.  The honey ice cream set off the flavours of the tart nicely.  My husband opted for the Orange Pancakes which also slipped down very nicely.

There isn’t much in the way of vegetarian alternatives on the Fiesta Del Asado menu, but I think that’s to be expected.  There are some chicken and fish dishes for those prefer not to eat red meat, but its a limited selection so you’d be advised to check the menu online before you go to make sure there’s something you’d like.

Overall we found Fiesta Del Asado to serve very high quality food and the meat was exceptionally good.  The service was excellent too and certainly a cut above the average.  It isn’t cheap (our meal for two cost the better part of £100 including drinks), but Fiesta Del Asado a great place to go for a celebration meal.

We paid for our meal in full and received no payment for this review.