Andalucia Impressions: Eating out in Andalucía - mealtimes; tapas y raciones

Mealtimes

Desayuno starts first thing in the morning and continues until 12, or sometimes later.

Proper lunch seems to be between 1/1.30 and 4.30.

Coffee and a cake, "teatime" in the UK, from 6ish until 8ish.

Dinner from 8pm onwards.

All intervening times to be filled by caña y aceitunas.

Tapas, raciones y menú del día

You probably know enough about Spain to know that tapas are small portions of tasty dishes typically eaten with a drink. Spanish go out to tapear, that is a group of friends goes from one bar to another stopping for a drink and tapa in each.

Habits about tapas vary, however, from one area of Andalucía to another, creating confusion for the tourist who never quite knows what to expect.

If you order a couple of beers (the small beer is a caña which costs between €1 and €1.40) or something similar you will generally get some olives with them, especially if you are perusing the menu with a view to ordering something to eat. In some places, for example, Antequera at Casa Meson Diego, the caña was a little more expensive (€1.80) but included a free tapa from a list of 10 hot or cold ranging from patatas bravas to fried marinated fish. There, extra tapas cost €1 each. 

In Almería a tapa is included with your drink but your caña costs €2.40 instead of €1.40, so you need to be aware that you are entitled to a free tapa when your waiter asks if you want one or that will be a very expensive beer. The best thing is to look at the menu, or if not ASK, it's clear you're a tourist and we found restaurant staff 100% helpful and friendly.

Prices of extra tapas, or of tapas in general if they aren't included vary drastically. The cheapest we ate were in Ronda at El Lechuguita where some cost just €0.80. The most expensive of those we tried was Coda de Toro at Las Banderillas in Jerez de la Frontera at €5.50 but was the size of a 1/2 ración and was well worth the money. There are no rules about how much food you will find on your plate or rather in the little round dish. It's best to start off with a couple of tapas each and then decide, also because once you have ordered, whether tapas or raciones, the food arrives fast and furious since waiters, understandably, don't wait for you to finish one tapa at a time. If you order ten, half will be sitting getting cold while you eat the others. This would be a pity because, for example, fried fish is freshly fried to order and piping hot.

Eating out is very flexible in Spain compared to other countries. Waiters don't expect you to order a full meal each. Generally Spanish people order tapas or 1/2 raciones or raciones which are put in the middle of the table, small plates are provided and everyone eats a bit of each. This is nice because you get the opportunity to try lots  of different things. Portions obviously vary but if you don't want to return from your trip to Spain several kilos overweight you may well find that tapas or 1/2 raciones are plenty.

Menu del día costs from as little as 7.50€ (Cafeteria La Lonja in Alicante) upwards. The board always specifies what's included, usually a first course or starter (beware that soups tend to be soupy, i.e. mostly liquid), a second course of meat, fish or eggs with salad or chips, a dessert or coffee and a small beer or other drink. We saw that it's ok to have one menu del día between two. Waiters bring you the extra plates and it's no problem. It's also ok to ask for a Vaso de agua (glass of water) if you have finished your beer or wine. In both cases when I say it's ok I mean that I observed other tourists or local people doing so, or we did ourselves, with no adverse reactions from waiters!

Sometimes menu del día is only from Monday to Friday or is more expensive at the weekend but by no means always.

Most cafes and bars have menus with prices outside or on the table. There's a charge for pan y picos that is a few slices of bread and a packet of bread sticks which was usually 0.50/1€ per person. 

Some, but very very few, eateries charge extra for sitting outside. This is usually clearly stated. Spanish people prefer to sit outside whatever the weather, so we often found a pleasant, comfortable and more peaceful table inside. Beware that if the weather is bad and everyone is inside just a few Spanish families can make a lot of noise! 

Eateries in touristy places can usually provide hot food from 12.30 continuously until late at night. In other areas kitchens may close between 5 and 8 pm so you might find only cold tapas at that time of day, but not necessarily, it only happened to us once on a Sunday in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

We were out and about for two months and the cheese or jamón with bread, tomatoes and olives picnic got pretty boring so we tended to have something to eat somewhere whenever we were far from base but not in the middle of nowhere. We always ate well and enough and spent less than 20 euros, sometimes a lot less, so our conclusion is that eating out in Andalucia is a very pleasant experience! More on what we ate in the next post.