Tapas

Tapas…. where to start. The word Tapas comes from the Spanish tapa (cover or lid). There’s a few stories as to where or when it originated, but historically it was often a stale piece of bread with cheese or ham (sometimes just a piece of ham) that covered your drink to keep flys and dust out. It’s since morphed to be what it is today, little bits of food to consume with drinks.

Tapas is more than food – it’s a social event. Gather with some friends and catch up over drinks and some food. It’s about sharing the moment.

It’s also a great way to try a few items that you might be unsure if you would enjoy. Having a drink? Try a tapas with it.

First impressions

There’s a variety of eating places that do tapas differently. Bars are a cool spot to visit when they are open to grab a drink and something small to eat but they come alive at night (9pm onwards); very rarely staying open past 11pm. Bars typically only serve a select few varieties of both alcohol and tapas unless they are a cafeteria (not a cafeteria in the sense of North American cafeteria). Vermuterias typically serve a variety of vermouth and tapas (tapas catered to drinking vermouth with – we have yet to try one but maybe today in the day!). Tapas restaurants serve a variety of alcohol and variety of tapas. They open around noon and in the local neighborhoods can close between 2 and 7/8 (we’ve encountered a few that close in the heat of the day). Full restaurants will serve tapas but their main focus is full meals, typically eaten after 9pm.

What we ordered

Traditional tapas we’ve had so far are croquettes, olives, anchovy stuffed olives, Serrano ham, Iberico ham, cheese, padron peppers, pan con tomate (tomato on bread), patatas bravas (crispy potatoes with either mayo or garlic sauce and a spicy sauce), Spanish omelette (potatoes and egg made into a dense omelette often served with a roasted red pepper), fuet (Catalan sausage), chorizo el diablo (chorizo on hell which is just chorizo cut up and stewed in red wine vinegar and oil). On the menu to try still is anchovies in vinegar (often consumed with vermouth).

Tapas seems to be served anytime after 12 and is often served alongside alcohol – if you are drinking, you should be eating tapas as well.

We have noticed that some places stop serving tapas around dinner time and change their menu to be more of a meal style but that’s only been a single place so far. It’s far more popular to serve just tapas rather than full menus.

Some tapas are more ornate and sophisticated, some are basic – but all are still delicious.