Barcelona Weekend Break

Tapas and Tapas Bars in Barcelona

A brief history of Tapas

For anyone unfamiliar with the Spanish tradition of eating tapas, it is a small serving of meat, fish or vegetables and its origin is said to date back to the sixteenth century and the reign of King Felipe III.

The word “tapa” means “lid” and tapas first came about as a way of curbing excessive drinking.

The idea was that when you purchased your drink, you also got a “tapa” (or lid) in the form of a plate placed on the top of it. This plate would contain a small snack which you would be obliged to eat prior to dinking your beverage, thereby punctuating the alcoholic consumption with digestible food in which the alcohol could be absorbed.

Today tapas is no longer a compulsory part of buying a drink, but it has become a major part of the Spanish eating and drinking culture and the word “tapas” is known the world over.

Tapas in Barcelona

You will find tapas served throughout Spain and many parts of South America. Similar “mini” drink accompaniments are often provided in other countries too, but Spanish tapas is the original and the best.

What makes Barcelona different and, in the eyes of many, the tapas capital of Spain, is the shear volume and variety of tapas dishes that are available. When you then combined these dishes with the number of specialist tapas bars in Barcelona serving them, you have a rare cornucopia of tapas with almost every variation and style of dish available.

Finding the best tapas bars

Tapas is served in virtually every bar and many cafes in Barcelona, but for a real treat you need to hunt out one of the “specialist” tapas bars that quite literally offer up to a hundred different varieties of tapas.

These bars are not difficult to find, Barcelona has a number of them and you will spot them in the seafront district and scattered around the old town. A number are close to the las Ramblas boulevard.

A “serious” tapas bar is unmistakable once you enter it. It will have a “bar like” counter running most of the way around its perimeter with a massive number of tapas dishes lined up on it - all ready for you to select and eat.

Different bars have different house specialities, but all have fish, shellfish, meat, vegetable and combination tapas dishes. All are in small snack sized portions and are presented on little plates (a tapa). You simply decide what you like and then sample the options that appeal to you one by one.

You can eat a single dish, or mix up six or seven varying tapas for the equivalent of a complete meal.

For anyone who is “mildly” adventurous in their eating habits, Barcelona’s tapas bars will definitely be a memorable highlight of their weekend break. All the tapas is prepared freshly, normally within minutes of it being consumed, and in the case of fish and seafood dishes, the likely hood is that the catch will have been landed earlier that day.

If you are not gastronomically adventurous, you will regrettably miss out on one of Barcelona’s great culinary treats, but even so it is worth taking a look in one of these amazing bars, if for no other reason than to see the spectacle of the colourfully set out dishes of tapas that fill the bar.

A few tapas bars in the city

In truth I cannot remember the names of all of the best tapas bars that we visited, but I think that they are probably included in the names below.

Txapella (which I do remember) – This is a fantastic tapas bar and you will struggle to beat it anywhere in Spain. The tapas is prepared in accordance with “Basque Country traditions and the tapas are called “pinxto”.

There is a menu available in English if you do not trust your eyes, and there are well over fifty or sixty different dishes to choose from. The address is, 8 to 10 Passeig de Gracia, a short distance from the Placa Catalunya. This is the one to try.

Taberana Basca Irati

Sol Solet

Bar celta

el Vaso de Ora

Bra Café

els quatre Gats

la Estrella plata