National Geographic Traveller (UK) - Food
TAKE A TAPAS CRAWL IN GRANADA
You’ll find the true taste of this Andalusian city in its small plates, from seafood salads to croquetas and meatballs. Words: Jessica Vincent
Previous pages, clockwise from top: Almond curd with 100% Venezuelan Araguani cocoa mass at Noor, Córdoba; Placa de la Virgen in Valencia’s historic centre; tortilla at Furancho Chipirón, served with local bread and wine; deep-fried padrón peppers at Furancho Cadaval
Eating tapas has brought Spaniards together for centuries, but determining its origins can be divisive. Some believe the clue is in the name: the word ‘tapa’ comes from the Spanish word ‘tapar’, meaning ‘to cover’; the story goes that when King Alfonso XIII stopped for a drink in a beachfront bar in Cadiz, he needed something to protect his wine from the flies and sand, so a waiter put a slice of ham on top of the glass. Another theory has it that an earlier monarch, King Alfonso X, invented the tapa after being prescribed alcohol for an illness — he used the small portions of food to help him stay sober.
Much like its history, the definition of tapas depends on where you are in the country. But in Granada — an ancient Andalucian city with one of the largest student populations in Spain — it can only mean one thing: a free plate of food with your drink. While raciones (larger sharing plates you have to pay for) are chalked on blackboards across the city, the best way to enjoy Granada’s tapas scene is to bar hop from bodega to bodega, letting the food flow as slowly — or as quickly — as the vermouth.
Night one
Start the evening at Bodegas Castañeda, a tavern in Plaza Nueva where ham legs hang from the ceiling and vermouth and moscatel are served straight from the barrel. The best place to stand is at the bar, where lightningfast waiters dish out saucer-sized plates of salpicón (a vinegary salad of octopus, crab sticks and onion), habas con jamón (broad beans with cured ham) and hard-boiled eggs stuffed with tuna and red pepper.
Afterwards, follow the crowds across the street to the intricately carved doors of
Bodegas La Mancha. If there’s no room at the bar, grab a barrel on the street and wait for plates of chicken and mushroom stew and blue cheese croquetas, which are best paired with a cold caña (smaller than a half pint of beer) or tinto de verano (red wine mixed with soda). And if you’re ordering from the menu, try La Mancha’s flamenquines, pork loin wrapped in serrano ham and deep-fried in breadcrumbs.
End the night at nearby Los Manueles,a restaurant that dates back to 1917 and has an experimental selection of tapas, including mini tortellini carbonara and jumbo-sized croquetas filled with cured ham and bechamel sauce, served with lightly spiced pickled cabbage. There’s plenty of seating available and the atmosphere is more relaxed than the bodegas, so take your time over some of the heartier items like roasted garlic soup and tennis ball-sized albóndigas — meatballs in a paprika-spiced tomato sauce — which can be ordered individually.
Night two
The next evening, head to Plaza Bib-rambla, Granada’s pedestrianised square that’s lined with 19th-century townhouses, for seafood tapas at Bar Los Diamantes. Apart from a garlic mushroom tapa, the free dishes here — steamed mussels, grilled prawns, fried anchovies — are exclusively fishy. If you’re in the mood for a racion, the clams and prawns with artichokes cooked in lashings of butter are sublime.
Sticking to seafood, make the five-minute journey to Cunini, where some of Granada’s most generous tapas portions are served on a striking marble bar studded with Roman-style pillars. This 1950s restaurant is best known for its award-winning ensaladilla de gambas (a silky-smooth potato and prawn salad whose trophy sits proudly by the till), but the hunks of fried hake and seafood rice, which features mussels and prawns from the nearby Costa Tropical, are also wonderful.
Finish the evening next door at Restaurante
Oliver, where migas (pan-fried breadcrumbs with chorizo and peppers) and baby tuna sandwiches are the star tapas. To finish, order a pionono — a dinky cinnamon sponge cake with toasted cream — to enjoy with a coffee.
HOW TO DO IT Vueling flies from Gatwick to Granada. Hotel Barceló Carmen Granada has doubles from €63 (£53) a night, B&B. barcelo.com