One of the joys of travelling in Spain is sampling the tapas from each of the distinct regions. Each region has their own specialities which might be fish and seafood based or include lots of jamón or chorizo. You can stick to the traditional staples like Spanish omelette or patatas bravas or go for more inventive fusion tapas you can find in the bigger cities.
Trying different tapas in Madrid is especially fulfilling with such a wide variety of tapas bars found around the Spanish capital. Here are a few tips from Lonely Planet on eating tapas in Madrid.
Among Madrid’s discerning tapas aficionados, the secret to enjoying the widest possible variety of tapas is to seek out the specialty of each bar, wash it down with a drink (whether a glass of the sharp Basque white wine txacoli, cider from Asturias or sherry from Andalucía), and then move on to the next bar to begin the whole process again.
A new epicentre of Madrid’s constantly evolving tapas culture is the Mercado de San Miguel, an airy, early 20th-century market rendered in iron and glass and recently renovated to stunning effect. The stalls selling fresh produce have been replaced with an altogether more nuanced space where delicatessen-style bars with stools offer up wafer-thin slices of jamón, small toasts topped with seafood and servings, small and large, of oysters.
In other words, the trick to enjoying tapas is simply to try as many different tapa at as many different bars as possible. You’ll surely be surprised as to what you’ll discover and it might be that the least likely of places will have the best food.
Image courtesy of: Christopher Chan
