Iberia Gastrobar

Bravo! This isn’t your typical traditional tapas dishes… it’s got a modern twist I guess you can say. The ingredients are superb! My boyfriend and I were in Javea for a week and tried a lot of the traditional tapas bars around but for date night we were looking for something a bit special.
He stumbled upon this find unexpectedly. We were intrigued that Simon (the owner) was mentored by Gordon Ramsey for quite some time. We were a bit skeptical as most online reviews tend to overhype a place. But not here. I think Spain simply has amazing and fresh ingredients to work with plus talent gives a star restaurant. I could see this in Laguna Beach or even NYC doing very well.
Anyways to the food:
We initially placed 6 tapas but Simon said it was way too much so we stuck with 4 dishes.
*They brought out a little taster for us. What seemed like a nigiri cheese roll topped w Roe. Along w a small tuna bite. (I’m so sorry I was buzzed by this time and cannot recall this dish too much!)
**1/​First dish: Marinated Sardines & Piquillo Pepper Terrine, Spring Onion Vinaigrette– this was one of our favorite dishes of the night!!! It looked like a lasagna sardine. Everything was perfectly marinated and nothing overpowering as sardines had a strong taste itself. This would be my must order!
2/​Stuffed Baby Squids in their Ink with Rice & Kataifi– comes out looking scary bc of the black ink sauce but this was also very good! The black ink sauce has a sweetness to it but not artificial but natural from the ink. How the squid was stuff was essentially w it’s own parts. I guess it may not be for everyone but we enjoyed this.
3/​Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Pumpkin, Beetroot Jus– Bc PB is so rich the size given was perfect. Somehow it melded in nicely with the pumpkin and beetroot sauce. Refreshing and I guess you can’t really mess up PB.
**4/​Galician Blonde Ox Rib Eye with Chips– OH BY FAR THE WINNER! Disclosure– this is coming from a girl that isn’t big on steak. In fact I’ll only have two bites of my bf’s and I’ll be good. But WOW! This is definitely a MUST ORDER! The bf was in love all over again lol. He agreed onE of the best he’s had. Got ordered med well. It was juicy and soo tender just melts in your mouth! Perfectly salted and must I say the steak fries «chips» that came with it was heavenly!!! You can order as much or as little we ordered about 2 oz. That Blonde ox has got something going on!
Overall, I highly recommend this adorable gastropub. Very small and intimate and get outdoor seating during the summer if possible. Nice to people watch. I love how the food was sophisticated wo the stuffy stuck up atmosphere yet reasonable prices too.
Trust me 4 dishes is plentiful with a bottle of wine that we devoured.