I Heart Tapas

Tapas are hands down my favorite part of Spain. They aren't a specific type of food, rather they are an entire way of eating. 

Tapas are just small portions of any type of Spanish food. And they come free with drinks! Many times tapas can be used to replace meals. People just go out for drinks and eat tapas around dinner time. It's also common to tapas-hop, so people will go to a few different bars, getting a drink and some tapas at each. 

I like the culture of eating while casually drinking. It makes for a laid-back social atmosphere at the bars. Every tapa I've tried has been delicioso, and it's fun because you get to try a lot of little things in one night! (Elizabeth, as I'm typing this it literally pains me that we can't tapas hop together tonight.)

Though the tapas are generally on the small side, our group found one bar in particular that dishes out generous portions for very low prices -- called El Tigre. It's always jam-packed with people chowing on the cheap. We've only been here a few weeks, but we are already frequent visitors and friends with the bartenders.

The menu of tapas changes every night, but there are a few of the standard El Tigre tapas:

Las Croquettas 

(Scrumptious balls of fried dough and ham.. I'll probably be doing a whole separate post on croquettas at some point. Really popular dish here.)

Patatas Fritas

(Fried potatoes. Potatoes are also a huge staple here -- they eat them in TONS of dishes! One time I fried potatoes with eggs on top, which was my fav.)

Pan con jamón

(Once again, the ham obsession continues. It's pretty common to get bread with different types of meat, cheese, or eggs on top of them for tapas.)

You get an entire plate of food with each drink! Sometimes they layer it, too. Last night I got all three of these plus eggs with one drink. And if you ask for more, they just give it to you! Looove it.