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A Tapas Tour in Madrid
In Spain, small plates deliver big flavors
Spain has given the world not only many delicious dishes, but also an entire way of eating. Tapas — small portions of food consumed with drinks — are one of the glories of Spanish culture.
On a recent trip to Spain, my husband and I had a tasty introduction to the history and pleasures of tapas on a food tour in its capital city of Madrid. For an evening we wandered the narrow lanes of the trendy Malasana neighborhood on a Walk and Eat Spain tour, stopping at local bars and eateries to meet their owners, sample their food, and learn why tapas are a vital part of the city’s culinary scene.
If you go
Walk and Eat Spain (walkandeatspain.com) offers a variety of food-based tours in Madrid. The tour described here, which costs about $125 per person, is “De Tapas in Malasana: An Evening Wine and Tapas Experience.” For more information about tourism in Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain at spain.info/en or (312) 642-1992.
Our guide was Simon Hunter, a native of England who’s lived in Spain for two decades and is married to a native of Madrid. He provided us with a fascinating window into Spanish politics, family life and culture as well as its food.
“People have been coming to the Malasana neighborhood for 400 years to eat and drink,” Simon told us. “Today it’s a place to sample new food trends, but it’s also a neighborhood where you can hang out with the locals and enjoy traditional dishes. That’s what we’ll be doing tonight.”
Our first stop was the Bistro Barcelo, a small restaurant tucked amid the fresh produce and fish stands of the Barcelo Market. Its owner, Jesus Garcia Almarcha, told us how he left a corporate job to pursue his love of cooking. With a flourish he handed us glasses of a sweet red Spanish vermouth and small platters of spiced pork skewers, empanadillas (small, savory turnovers) with tuna and tomato stuffing, and a selection of olives, roasted peppers, pickled onions and chilis.
“There are a variety of stories about how tapas started,” said Simon as we sampled the dishes. “The word probably comes from a verb meaning ‘to cover.’ One story says that bartenders used to cover drinks with small plates of food to keep the dust and flies out. But however they started, tapas are an essential part of Spanish life.”
Historically tapas have been eaten during the afternoon or early evening, Simon told us, in part as a way of curbing hunger until the traditional Spanish dinner time of 9 or 10 o’clock. But increasingly tapas have become a meal in themselves, with people hopping from one eatery to another throughout the evening. In a society that loves to socialize, tapas are a movable feast that involves multiple people and places.
Our next stop gave us an introduction to the crown jewel of Spanish cuisine: ham, or jamon in Spanish. At tables in the back of the specialty grocery store Degustacion R. Garcia, Jose Garcia presented us with glasses of the Spanish lager Mahou accompanied by razor-thin slices of three types of richly marbled ham: jamon serrano, lomo iberico and jamon iberico. After sampling all three, it was hard to choose which was the most delicious.
“All Spanish ham is remarkably good, but the most expensive is iberico, which comes from an ancient breed of black-footed pigs unique to Spain,” said Simon. “Each pig has to have an acre of land to roam, and they eat mostly acorns. Their meat is first packed in salt for two weeks and then dry cured for a minimum of three years.”
As we followed Simon on a winding route to our next destination, he described how Madrid is a city built around plazas. With most people living in small apartments, they offer places for neighbors to socialize and foster a sense of community in the midst of a large city.
At last we reached Casa Macareno, a traditional tavern packed with people, many of whom called out greetings to Simon as we entered. After finding seats at the bar, we enjoyed glasses of a Spanish white wine paired with croquetas of jamon and truffle, a seasonal tomato salad, and olives.
“We’re so lucky in Spain — almost everything we eat is grown or produced here,” said Simon, who then gave us tips on how to negotiate tapas for the rest of our trip. While many bars and restaurants today have a tapas menu, the traditional way is to serve them as a free accompaniment to a drink, with different establishments having their own specialties. Order a drink first, he advised, and often you’ll get a small plate of food as a bonus.
For our final stop, we went to Rio Mino, a restaurant specializing in dishes from the northwestern region of Galicia. There I ate the single most delicious dish I had that evening — grilled razor clams in garlic and parsley, followed by strips of steak with homemade fries and Padron peppers. We finished the evening with a piece of St. James cake, another specialty of Galicia.
As we enjoyed a final glass of Galician wine, Simon told us that when he first moved to Madrid he was surprised by how much people talked about food. “They were always telling me about the dishes their grandmother made and what new place they’d tried out the night before,” he said. “Now I’m sort of obsessed by food too. It’s just part of being a Spaniard to love to eat.”
As we said goodbye, I realized that four hours had passed in a flash. During the evening we’d gained insights not only into Spanish tapas, but also into Spanish life.
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