Nerja is undoubtedly the best and cheapest place I have ever been to sample tapas:
What started as simply a piece of bread placed over your glass (to keep the flies off!) has become an institution in Spain and especially in Nerja.
The number of Tapas bars here is staggering.
The choice of tapas is also staggering, from a basic few pieces of cheese, or just olives, through to anything you can imagine and including bacon & quails egg in a baby bread bun and just about everything you would find on the menu in a top class restaurant.
Tapas offer a different way to dine, maybe you just want a snack…three or four Tapas will more than do the trick.
Tapas are usually free if you sit at the bar or order and collect from the bar. Don’t expect to be served tapas by a waiter if you are sat on the terrace.
In the older and smaller hidden away bars you might not even get a choice, but the more you have the better they get, you might even hear the landlord shouting “dos primero”, and then with your next round of drinks “Dos Secundo” and so on.
Other bars offer a choice, usually from a bar top refrigerated display and again they may be free or for a small charge. There are also places that have a separate Tapas menu and even choice of a larger (half) portion (medio racione) or huge portion (racione) which of course you pay for.
Tapas bars are everywhere, and a great way to eat out and try lots of different tapas.
If you want to do a Tapas run there are some basic rules to make sure you have fun and get to visit lots of bars:
Only one drink and one Tapas in each bar you visit (that way you get to try loads of bars)
If you don’t know the name of the Tapas you want, simply point.
Mix and match Tapas with each other that way you get to try even more different Tapas.
Above all get a bit lost and have fun.
Some of my favourite tapas bars are Sevillano on C/Chaparil, Posada Iberico just iff C/Pintada, Los Cunaos Herrera Oria and of course Bar Dolores (Chispas) on San Pedro as well as Sabor de Victoria on Rodriguez Acosta.
