What’s in a name? Everything… you’d think. Yet, tapas weren’t actually called tapas for over seven centuries. So to know Spain, you have to know its tapas that come with a delectable gastronomy where each region’s bounty prances pertly to your table. Tapa was something (free) you got with drinks. They came in cold, quickly assembled and bite-sized portions, originating in Andalucia, but embraced by all of Spain.
Today, if the waiter does not get you a (free) tapa then it’s safe to say you can go to town on the menu. Or you can check out Cerveza+tapas lists for the olden day tradition. But first, we have to literally get the “cover” version, travelling back to the 13 Century, when King Alphonso the wise looked through his kingdom’s accounts and found productivity dwindling in the afternoon.
As legend goes, he decreed that as the Spaniard was probably in deep siesta after a good drink, and was unable to walk the straight line to work, he initiated a law where all bars had to serve a free snack with a drink to prevent inebriation! And the tapa was born. Oddly enough, it didn’t get a name, just a literal, “something free to eat with the drink” in Spanish… Centuries later, in the 1920s, is when that “something…” was called tapa. Another King, this time, Alphonso the 13th paved the way for the name! Our Sandman’s veritable storehouse of knowledge guide went on to tell us a story as we walked wide-eyed through soulful and beautiful Madrid,
In 1920, the king was travelling in the south of Spain, Cadiz, known for its hot, sultry, sunny and windy climate. Our guide said, “The king was travelling on this typical day in Cadiz, hot and windy. And he felt very thirsty, and so he stopped and asked for a glass of sherry wine, pointing to a bar. He entered and the bartender, who was not expecting to serve a king was terrified.
Since it was so hot and windy, the bartender decided to serve the king a cup of wine with a plate of food on top covering the glass.” The strange manner of serving had the king demand what it was? The bartender, part terrified, part groping for an answer, mumbled, “A cover,” or in “Es Una Tapa.” And we are only the more stomach full because of it!
Catalonia
The food of Catalonia has interesting sauces, like Romesco and Allioli and influences of French Mediterranean. If it’s Barcelona, you can walk down the famed La Rambla and pick on any of the cafes and restaurants… with a glass of Spanish wine or a Sangria. Or you can walk to Barceloneta and sit at any of the quaint cafes overlooking the blue sea as you munch on octopus with seasalt and olive oil, or just some gambas prawns.
The boqueria in La Rambla is filled with the best fare — chorizo, cheese, cuttle fish, clams, squid, eels or just many a forn (bakery) with the best of seasonal tapas, waiting to be devoured.
The patatas bravas is a dish served all over Spain, with influences depending on the region, its spicy by Spanish standards, served with garlic, olive oil, sometime jamon too. We had the chippidones or baby squid at the beach front of Villassar de Mar with its fairy tale cobbled streets and old town buzzing with small restaurants and cafés serving the best fare. The baby squid, fresh from the sea, and small slices of potatoes fried to perfection with a tabasco of the region. There is the Catalan version of paella with vermicelli with some prawns or seafood.
Be a Madrilenian
In Madrid, it’s the huevos rotos or potatoes with fried egg and jamon, that you will find in different avatars, each a delight to wallop away. You can also have the famed kalamari sandwich, fried kalamari in an open baguette. The Mercado de San Miguel near Plaza Mayor serves up a frenzy of food, that will make any foodie weak in the knees, be it fried kalamari or prawns, or a slice of Jamon… simple but delicious.
Madrid also boasts the oldest restaurant in the world, El Restaurante Botin, which opened doors way back in 1725, according to our wonderfully funny guide, and has never closed since. It has a Guiness Books Record plaque on its window, and filled to the brim.
Painters Francisco De Goya and Velasquez, came here, infact, Velasquez washed dishes here before he became famous. Of course, the famed Ernest Hemingway also stopped at innumerable bars across Spain, thanks to his love for wine and food, and his novel, The Sun Also Rises features Botin. Funnily enough, most restaurants in Madrid climb over each other to declare that Hemingway ate there, the one place that claimed, “Hemingway didn’t eat here,” caught our eye!
La Latina is the olden day drunk haven and modern day tippler’s delight – get to Café Lucio for the best huevos rotos this side of town, if you manage a table. There are enough and more places to visit, and tapas of all kinds await you.
Zamora
This quaint and picturesque city in Castile and León, lies on a rocky hill in the northwest, near Portugal with the gentle Duero River flowing through. A city of the most Romanesque churches (12th and 13th centuries), it is like stepping back into time. Known for its “garbanzos” that Zamora Chef Carlos loves to add to his cooking school seven course meal. There are cheese factories and wineries dotting this area of mustard yellow and lush green.
We went to a Michelin starred restaurant El Rincon de Antonio situated nondescriptly in the old quarter, where we got a taste of tapa that exuded flavour. Chef Carlos and Zamora resident Lorena introduced us to Chef Manuella who takes her profession seriously, and will, if given a chance take you to Liberalia, the vineyard to taste the wines from the region. Infact, the Spanish are friendly, warm and take great pride in their land and its riches. But before, we stepped into a bar for blini pancakes with pate drizzled with olive oil, wow, we went through the old quarter.
Then Chef Manuela served us a splendid sardine tapa that was perfection in freshness and subtle taste, peppery escargot, grated cheese with fruit that was like walking on clouds. She then ambled to her favourite bars in Zamora for some succulent juicy pork skewers, mussels in tomato sauce and of course, dotted the conversation with how Spanish wine and cheese are among the best. If conversation is to be had, tapas are an utmost necessity. And they only endear this beautiful land to the travelling foodie.
