It seemed like a good idea at the time. After all Las Iguanas brews its own cachaça in Brazil exclusively for its own restaurants, and more importantly for its caipirinha cocktails. But did I also need to try the shots of aged Magnifica Cachaça, the Brazilian equivalent of a mature Scotch?

Actually, it was easier to down than tequila, but the next day wasn’t as fun. And yes I know this is meant to be about food. But that’s what’s different about Las Iguanas, its about having fun. And such a sexy interior begs a cocktail or two before you slither into one of the leather booths for a bit of Brazilian nosh.

At weekends this Park End Street venue is the perfect pre-clubbing venue, half the interior designed for drinkers and party-goers, rather than diners, but as we proved – it’s perfectly feasible to do both.

And to make sure we put Las Iguanas through its paces, we took along some Brazilian friends to find out how authentic the restaurant really is. To be honest they could have been in McDonald’s for the amount of notice they took, so entranced were our respective halves with the Rio Carnival video playing above the bar. “Why can’t you wear something like that for dinner” Mr Greedy asked, eyeing a particularly well-endowed temptress in a Borat-style G-string that made me wince.

Dragging himself away for long enough to chase his classic margarita with a San Miguel, we were led to a booth at the back.

The signs are that although this is fundamentally Brazilian, Las Iguanas has already begun giving other continental dishes a Latino tweak. So while you can have xinxim (Brazilian lime chicken) or moqueca (a creamy coconut and seafood curry), which both have a place in South American culinary culture, the speciality beef burger, asparagus salad, Caesar salad and Ipanema mess were verging on global bastardisation.

Nevertheless, the pato taquito (spicy duck tortilla), albondigas (meatballs), gambas (prawns in garlic, lemon and chilli) and champinones (mushrooms) were wheeled out and disappeared very quickly.

Next up was the South American sirloin (see what I mean), prawn fajitas, crayfish and sweet chilli salad and the nachos, by which time we were already bursting at the seams.

Mr Greedy wasn’t overly pleased with his prawn fajitas, which came with sour cream, guacamole, jalapenos and salsa and wonderfully soft wheat tortillas for £13.90. Personally I think he was just put out because our Brazilian friend had the steak and loved it (aged for 21 days) at £14.70.

The salad was suitably wholesome and virtuous for £8, and something a bit different for the healthy eater who must get bored of eating rabbit food all the time, and the nachos (£5.30) was, well, disappointing. The guacomole on the side was the size of a rabbit dropping so we asked for more. Something more cared for would have been appreciated.

How the others managed dessert I’ll never know, the Aztec chocolate fudge cake (a bit Disney, really) and mango and passionfruit cheesecake, as well as the summer berry sundae, were enjoyed while fuelling the speculation that maybe Brazilians don’t do dessert which is why they had to pilfer everyone else’s.

And so we came to the aged Magnifica Cachaca, which is a beautiful toffee brown colour and slides down a treat.

It was then our learned Brazilian friend’s turn to deliver his verdict, all eyes swivelling drunkenly in his direction. “I do not think it’s Brazilian,” he said carefully. “Las Iguanas is more international with a Latino twist,” he managed before swaying out of the door.

But that’s the thing, Las Iguanas’ authenticity is by the by, because we’d had a fabulous time, and if you’re looking for the fun factor, Las Iguanas has got it in bucketloads.