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Last week, we gave you a brief overview of our two-day trip to Blackpool for pride. We promised we’d go into a little more detail about where to eat, so here goes…
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The Blackpool Tower Ballroom
Strictly Come Dancing fans will love this: afternoon tea in one of the most iconic settings in Blackpool. With a Wurlitzer taking pride of place, and intricately adorned ceilings, we were able to enjoy a spot of ballroom dancing with an absolutely sublime afternoon tea. This was an exquisite start to our trip, and allowed us to revel in a spot of glorious Blackpool tradition!
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If you have a Blackpool Resort Pass, make use of it here for some neat discounts.
Las Iguanas
Deciding to take shelter from the legendary North West weather, we fled to Las Iguanas for cocktail time. Las Iguanas is the perfect place for cocktails because they’re always 2-4-1!
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While we sipped on cocktails, we thumbed through the menu. We noticed the starters looked quite big, but we knew it was going to be a long day, so we ordered them anyway.
My veggie travelling companion opted for fiery mushroom quesadillas with a fresh salsa. These were decent enough to soak up the booze and flavoursome enough to satisfy his South American culinary curiosity. If we’d wanted to travel light, belly-wise, this would have been plenty to keep him going, but we were both glad to try the mains because they were great.
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Tasty ribs are always a treat for meat-lovers like me! Loving the hints of coriander, these were a very good choice, I felt, and again, a great portion size.
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Next up: our mains. Veggie had a lovely fiesta ensalada with halloumi. It was a wholesome mix of roasted butternut squash, mixed leaves, carrot, cucumber, pink pickled onions, oven-dried tomatoes and fresh avocado, tossed in a poppy seed dressing. Topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, charred corn and roquito peppers, it had a sweet and crunchy edge.
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My hand was aquiver with antici . , , pation for this Vivo flaming bird with slaw and salad. A great gluten-free option, also available with chips or rice if you prefer your carbs, this was a choice I was particularly pleased with.
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We skipped dessert, aware that we had other restaurants in our itinerary, but peering at others’ tables, these continued the trend of decent portions and wild tastes!
Nando’s
I’m a fan of Nando’s. My writers group and I once spat some impromptu poetry outside a Nando’s bus at freshers’ week for some vouchers, and I’m pretty proud of our ingenuity (I got about five meals for free out of the day).
The staff at Nando’s Blackpool were very friendly and helpful, and took this photo of us. Food-wise, I’m sure most of our readers are familiar with the standard Nando’s offering: a range of peri peri chicken dishes with various sides, and a few guest stars for those who fancy something different.
I’m a huge lover of chicken on the bone (it’s so more flavoursome), and I like mine hot, to boot. My good friend Jacob joined me for dinner before work, and it was a nice, casual atmosphere for us to catch up in.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Merlin Entertainments and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Visit Blackpool, Las Iguanas, Nandos and Gabiella at Brazen.
