Spain
Portugal
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
El Salvador
Mexico
Made in Australia
Casa Iberica History & Details
Established 1975
Casa Iberica started in 1975. It was opened by Jose & Alice de Sousa. Both of whom migrated from a small island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean called Madeira island (an island that belongs to Portugal). The name Casa Iberica comes from the name Casa meaning house. Iberica meaning Iberian Peninsula. Casa Iberica = the house of Spain and Portugal.
The shop was originally started because Alice de Sousa was not able to have children, so Jose thought this would be a good way to distract his wife. So good that 3 months after opening the business Alice de Sousa fell pregnant.
Casa Iberica was opened in Johnston Street Fitzroy because Johnston Street was the street of the Spanish Club and the street was well known for catering to the Spanish community. Therefore opening a shop, a delicatessen to the Portuguese, Spanish and Hispanic community seemed like a perfect opportunity.
Originally Casa Iberica was half the size that it is today, were the terracotta, spices and Mexican sauces are today was the De Sousa family home. However in 1983 after finally seeing progress in the business since opening it in 1975, they decided to expand the business therefore using the family home to double the size of the shop and building a new home upstairs.
Casa Iberica has always supported and helped in the Spanish community and was one of the first businesses In fund and support the first Spanish Fiesta in 1978 and has ever since.
Casa Iberica has always tried and prided itself in not only having products from Spain, Portugal, Central America and South America, many of which Casa Iberica has brought to Australia since the early 1980s, such as the Pimenton, Paella Pans, Terracotta, Spanish Nougat for Christmas, Spanish Mantecados and Polvorones for Christmas. Portuguese sardines, Portuguese dry salted cod (Bacalhau), Saloio Portuguese olive oil and paella seasoning.
Although there are many products that for Quarantine reasons we can not bring in from overseas, in such circumstances Casa Iberica has found companies that could make our traditional products here in Australia, such as Pasteis de Nata, Quince Paste, Cabello de Angel, Spanish chorizo, Blood pudding and Empanadas, just to name a few.
Casa Iberica has always been a family run business and something that we have always been very proud of. In actual fact Jose and Alice’s both daughters were raised in the delicatessen, using the tins and cans as their toys and the new generation of Casa Iberica is following this traditional by also raising their children at Casa Iberica. Over the years we have received a great deal of media publicity, such a television (Food Safari), magazines (Gourmet Traveler) and newspapers.
Although both Jose and Alice are both Portuguese, Johnston Street and Casa Iberica helped both them and their family to team fluent Spanish. There are not many specialty shops in Melbourne of this nature were you can walk in and speak in Spanish, Portuguese or English, We feel very happy when we hear a lot of our customers speaking in their mother tongue and say “Oh! I love this shop, I feel like I am back home.” Words like that make us feel so proud that all our years of hard work and sacrifice helped us get to a point that we always wanted to achieve. Having authentic products like those you would find in your kitchen or on your dinner table back in Spain, Portugal, Central America or South America,
Over the past 10 years we have found that are large proportion of our cliental are Australian, many first generation Australian. We are happy that we have been able to cater to the wonderful experimental and interested pellet of the new generation. We are so happy when we are able to accommodate to the questions and needs of our customers who have come home from a trip from overseas and were wondering if we can help them recreate a delicious meal they had on their trip.