Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH …
...except, once upon a time, in southern Spain.
Tapas
(from tapar, to cover) originated as
free snacks given away as covers for drinks' glasses, perhaps to keep the flies off in the
baking sun. It's still a much more southern, Andalucian thing, though the Basques, galle-
gos and other northerners, all with their own tapas tradition, might disagree. In some parts
of Spain, tapas still comes for free with drinks - a dish of olives, a bite of omelette, some
fried peppers. But in Barcelona you can expect to pay for every mouthful … unless you
count the restaurants which kick off proceedings with an
amuse-gueule
shot glass of soup
or designer canapé - free to anyone just about to pay €100 for dinner. The classic old-town
tapas bars tend to concentrate on specialities from the Spanish regions, like octopus, pep-
pers and seafood from Galicia; cider, cured meats and cheese from Asturias; or the ubi-
quitous Basque-style
pintxos
, which are bite-sized concoctions on a slice of bread, held
together with a cocktail stick (you're charged by the number of sticks on your plate when
you've finished). But contemporary tapas bars in Barcelona think nothing of mixing and
matching cuisines, so you could just as easily be munching on a cold soba-noodle salad or
a pint-sized lamb kebab.
TOP 5 TRADITIONAL TAPAS
TOP 5 CONTEMPORARY TAPAS
TAPAS BARS
no-nonsense Galician tapas bar specializes in typical dishes like octopus (
pop gallego
) and
fried green
pimientos
(peppers), washed down with heady regional wine (dishes €3-16). You
eat at the U-shaped bar or at tables in the back room, and while it's not one for a long, lazy
meal, it's just right to kick off a bout of bar-hopping.
Tues-Sun noon-midnight.
the old town, with a marble counter open to the street and dirt-cheap wine served straight
fromthebarrel.Itattractsanenthusiasticlocalcrowd,frombusinessmentopre-clubbers,and
