A taste of Spain - tapas in Madrid

The other day we were sat in Manchester's La Tasca, one in a chain of tapas restaurants here in England. We kept our jackets on while a cold wind from the open door whipped around our ankles. We sipped overpriced glasses of wine and waited an hour for some food. The portions were tiny (but the prices weren't), so our 50%-off voucher clipped from the newspaper came in handy. We vowed to make another visit to Madrid as soon as possible to remind ourselves how tapas are really done.

This last spring we spent 5 days in Madrid, the capital of Spain and its largest city. Madrid also lays claim to being the culinary capital of Spain, with an unrivalled selection cafes, bars, ice cream stands, bakeries and restaurants which are open past midnight.

Despite the sprawl, the core of the city is compact and surprisingly attractive, with many narrow lanes free of traffic. Standing in the crossroads Puerta del Sol, the official centre of all Spain, means all the city's major sites are within a 10-minute walk. But instead of traipsing around the Museo del Prado or the Palacio Real just yet, how about a sample of some of the city's best places to eat and drink?

We noticed two distinct divides south of Puerta del Sol. On the one side there is Plaza de Santa Ana, overlooked by ritzy hotels, its pavements packed with parasols, cafe tables and buskers. The only vistors here though are the tourists, most of them treating their euros like so much Monopoloy money, judging the way they were throwing it about.

Venturing the opposite direction and clutching our menu decoder, we made our way instead most nights towards the La Latina neighbourhood. Walking down streets that follow the route of the old city walls, we found dozens of eateries all offering reasonable prices and all packed with local residents.

Taberna Tempranillo at 38 Cava Baja was one of the first places we entered, the name catching our eye as it is one of our favourite wines. The wine did not disappoint, especially the Ribera del Duero from the Arzuaga bodega. We paid for a selection of tapas: goats cheese with grilled courgette (Quesito de Cabra), a hearty pate topped with a blackberry couli and caramelised onion (Pincho de Pate) and slabs of seared tuna (Ventresca de Bonito). Each was served on a separate saucer atop several slices of chewy bread. Four glasses of delicious wine and three tapas came to 22 euros.

We would have stayed longer, but fancied something a bit heartier. Around the corner we found Viva La Vida, an organic vegetarian buffet which charges by the weight of the food piled onto your plate. The website is packed with photos that give you an idea of what to expect.

We heaped our plates with hummus, falafel, couscous, rice, croquettes, pasta salad and other Mediterranean-style goodies. Along with a bottle of San Miguel lager and a glass of the house red wine it came to 28 euros.

Another evening along Cava Baja and we headed into a winebar called Lucio. I'm sure that was the name, but a Google search only mentions an exclusive restaurant on the street by that name. Perhaps this is their 'snackbar' version because there were very few diners?

The Riojas and Riberas we sampled were all suberb, the finest of the trip. I made a point of ordering only the most expensive ones off the winelist, but they were 3 euros a glass at the most (compared to £6 here in Manchester for wine of the same quality). I noticed our servings became more ample after we sipped our first glass. The free tapas that accompanied each wine become more generous as well, starting with an olive and pickle salad, followed by slices of handcarved dried porkleg on cheese biscuits, then finally a large plate of roasted almonds.

Quite often we were the only tourists in these eateries and the chances of being handed a menu in English were nil. I studied two years of Spanish at university, but I still found this comprehensive menu decoder a godsend. I took the time to copy all the entries into a short Word document which stayed in my pocket the entire trip. No deep-fried baby eels for us!

They may speak the same language, but Mexican food is quite different from what you find in Spain so it was interesting to try out the Spanish approach to TexMex at La Mordida. Inside it was a riot of colours, murals and paper hangings. The fajitas came out on a single plate to be shared between us and as these only lasted about 5 minutes we asked for the nachos which came under a pile of melted cheese, refried beans and guacamole. Throw in a couple more glasses of wine and it came to 28 euros, according to my receipt. My receipt also says it was nearly midnight before we left!

That was one of the best things about Madrid: we stopped looking at our watches and wondering about the time because so many places stay open all night. We were walking down a busy street enjoying ice creams one night at 2am and come 5am the clubbers roll into the cafes to dunk churros into cups of thick hot chocolate.

Coming up, a trip out to El Escorial...some of Europe's finest art museums...and practical tips on visiting Madrid. Vaya con Dios!