95 Best Restaurants in Spain

This ample and lively bar flanked by ancient stone and exposed redbrick walls is a good spot for tapas and beer as well as Albariños and Ribeiros.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, an intimate corner bar, and throwback tapas keep this "tasca moderna" packed with neighborhood dwellers night after night. Particularly addictive are the gildas (anchovy skewers) and marineras murcianas, loopy crackers topped with potato salad and draped with an anchovy.

The area's beloved tapas chain is friendly, fun, and always busy with customers helping themselves to some 40 mouthwatering types of pinchos (dainty bar-side tapas ranging from mini hamburgers to fried king prawns to sautéed mushrooms). You can also have larger portions in the sit-down dining area. The shop next door, Pirineu Gourmet, is owned by the same family and sells local delicacies such as freshly prepared pâté and foie gras, caviar, ciders, and honey.

Locals flock to this hole-in-the-wall for what might be the city's best croquetas—choose from jamón (ham), chicken, bacalao, or wild mushroom. The rabas (fried calamari) also stand out for their nongreasy, ultracrisp exterior.

The main draw at this quirky tavern is the pintxos---imaginative, internationally inflected bites ranging from smoked Cantabrian anchovies to mushroom-foie-gras toasts. The interior feels like a professor's study, with books and magazines scattered about, and there's a sign on the wall that says "This is an Atheist establishment."