Tapas food recommendations -- anyone?
 

Will be traveling to Spain soon and want to sample tapas -- but which tapas? Please recommend. Thanks

The best thing to do is decide on your own. Some places have limited selection others extraordianry slections. The best thing about tapas is that if you do not like one, it is small and expensive.

Live on the edge try something new.

Some of the more common are:
tortilla espanola which is a thick omelet usually with potato and onions.

Patatas (or patacas) bravas-lightly fried potatoes with a spicy sauce

chorizos-spanish sausgae can be spicy

There are thousand variations on fish including shell fish such as shrimp (gamabs) and prawns (canerones)

What tapas or pintxos you sample will depend on where you are. The best pintxos, and by that the best tapas, are in the north, in Navarra and the Basque country and often considered haute cuisine Basque style; small, gastronomic dishes.

The best bars for the essential tapas in Madrid:

* ALBÓNDIGAS (Meat balls)
"Bar Salamanca" at calle Cava Baja, 31 (metro La Latina) -- "Casa Vila" at calle Santa Engracia, 87 (metro Iglesia) -- "Moncho" at calle Principe, 3 (metro Sevilla)

* BOQUERONES EN VINAGRE (Pickled anchovies)
"El Barril" at calle Goya, 86 (metro Goya). Superb shellfish -- "Fide" at calle Ponzano, 8 (metro Alonso Cano) -- "La Posada de la Villa" at calle Cava Baja, 9 (metro La Latina) A former inn built in the 17th century.

* CALAMARES (Squid rings fried in batter)
"El Pescador" at calle Ronda de Toledo, 2. -- "El Brillante" at glorieta Emperador Carlos V, 8 (metro Atocha) -- "La Ideal" at calle Botoneras, 4 (metro Sol)

* CROQUETAS (Croquette)
"Casa Manolo" at calle Jovellanos, 7 (metro Banco de España) -- "Taberna La Cruzada" at calle Amnistia, 8 (metro Opera) -- "Taberna Matritum" at Cava Alta, 17 (metro La Latina). Great wine bar.

* ENSALADILLA (Boiled vegetables salad with mayonnaise)
"El Quinto Vino" at calle Hernani, 48 (metro Nuevos Ministerios) -- "Jurucha" at calle Ayala, 19 (metro Velázquez) -- "El Portillo" at calle Embajadores, 72 (metro Embajadores)

* GAMBAS (Prawns)
"La Torre del Oro" at plaza Mayor, 26 (metro Sol). Gambas al ajillo (peeled prawns fried with garlic) -- "La Casa del Abuelo" at calle Victoria, 12 (metro Sevilla). Gambas a la plancha (grilled prawns), Valdepeñas wine -- "El Cantabrico" at calle Padilla, 39 (metro Diego de Leon). Gambas cocidas (soft boiled prawns). Superb shellfish.

* JAMÓN (Cured ham)
"Mesón Cinco Jotas" at calle Arenal, 6 (metro Sol) Cured ham class Ibérico from Andalucia -- "El Miajón de los Castúos" at calle Infanta Mercedes, 56 (metro Cuzco) Cured ham class Ibérico from Extremadura. -- "Toma Jamón" at calle Mediodia Grande, 6 (metro La Latina).

* PATATAS BRAVAS (Spicy dices of fried potatoe)
"Las Bravas" at calle Espoz y Mina, 13 (metro Sol) -- "Los Chicos" at calle Guzman el Bueno, 33 (metro Argüelles) -- "Bodega de La Ardosa" at calle Santa Engracia, 70 (metro Iglesia). Traditional tavern.

* PIMIENTOS DE PADRÓN (small green peppers ---some are chilli hot, some are not---)
"Melos" at calle Ave Maria, 44 (metro Lavapies) -- "El Ñeru" at calle Bordadores, 5 (metro Sol). Queso de Cabrales (blue cheese) is worth -- "Maceiras" at calle Huertas, 66 (metro Anton Martin).

* TORTILLA (Potatoe omelette)
"Bodega de La Ardosa" at calle Colón, 13 (metro Tribunal). Wonderful ancient tavern. Draught Guinness. -- "Juana la loca" at plaza Puerta de Moros, 4 (metro La Latina) -- "Sylkar" at calle Espronceda, 17 (metro Alonso Cano).

great list, revulgo!

jherbert123, just remember that "a la plancha" means "grilled" and this will help you order almost anything. you can have a croissant this way.. opened up (abierto) which is one of my favorites.

also, vegetables a la plancha (verduras)..

and highly recommend those patata bravas, tortilla, and maybe some calamare a la plancha, croquetas de pollo or jamon...

be adventurous as suggested and order something you see someone else hounding down.

enjoy your trip!

I am afraid, a list of tapas does not make sense any more.

Meanwhile, you find hundreds of different tapas - each region and each bar has developed its own style.

Some 20 yeas ago, tapas were simple things like a slice of sausage, a small piece of tortilla or a couple of olives to accompany a drink. Then, tapas become somewhat bigger, like the items on revulgo's list.

Today, regular dishes are served as tapas. Taller de Tapa in Barcelona serves tapas like "sauteed clams with haricot beans", "grilled monkfish" or "fillet of beef". The only difference to regular dishes is that the portions are smaller. For a list including photographs of the tapas, see www.tallerdetapas.com

Sometimes, they serve the same dish as "tapa" or as "racion". Racion means the portion is bigger but still smaller than a dish. If you are hungry and if you want to eat a whole meal, you should consume at least half a dozen tapas and maybe three or four raciones.

In a bar in Bilbao which was very popular among locals, small sandwiches were served as tapas.

A common element is that most bars have their tapas on display on the bar, so you look and select. Since most wait staff in Spain does not speak English, you can simply point to the tapas you wish to try. Usually, you go to the bar and take the tapas to the table. When you are finished, you ask for the check. It was always a pleasant surprise for me since food is dirt cheap in Spain.

Proper restaurants serve tapas in a different way. Here you get a menu with several dozens of items. Even with an excellent dictionary, it will take half an hour to translate everything. We usually do it this way: We make clear that we want mixed vegetable, fish and meat tapas for the whole table. We were never disappointed by what we received.

Ensaladilla Rusa- as above but with tuna and egg, yummy

Tigres- creamy/crispy coating-filled mussel shells.

Battered aubergine and artichoke.

Once you get to Spain and get to a bar, you´ll see by yourself and will have no doubts. As traveller1959 says, it doesn´t make sense to make a list as every bar, every city, every region has their way of doing them.

And check for the difference between tapas, raciones and pintxos...

I just answered that question if jherbert123 is visiting Madrid.

Revulgo - any suggestions for Barcelona? Also I am looking for a seafood restaurant in the Barcelonnetta if anyone wants to post a suggestion for that. Thanks! SueC1

thanks for the list revulgo.

BCN or Seville suggestions would be great too!

The very best place to enjoy a tapas-style menu in BCN is Commerc24.

For a rustic, inexpensive tapas meal I recommend Nou Celler, Carrer de la Princesa (close to the cathedral).

Although I have mentioned Taller de Tapas, I was not overwhelmed by the quality of food there.

Hi,

And thanks again. I am amazed at the posters on this site, who are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. We will try to "live on the edge" as someone recommended. And we will be in the Basque region, where the food should be more adventuresome. It'll be a wedding, incidentally, and the mother is from the region. She is a fabulous cook on her own and has had her own Spanish cooking program in New York.

Jim

I am puzzled about Traveler's comment above that food is "dirt cheap" in Spain! I must be eating at the wrong places because I certainly did not find that to be true!

now beer and house wine.. i can understand.. but food???

One of then issues in the national election two weeks ago was the rising cost of food.

I agree with ekscrunchy and lin.."dirt cheap" is too much to say...you have not been round here recently I think :) Certainly is cheaper than the UK or even France...but not so much.

seafood tapas bar in barceloneta:

c/ginebra, about two blocks from the marina (from c/joan de borbó) on a corner. very nice to sit out on the pavement terrace, old bar, inexpensive and very good.

sorry it's called Jai-ca