TAPAS, Granada

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Small wine bar which offers tapas as well.... lovely atmosphere and very good prices. It was so nice we went back there the same night. Free tapas with first drink.

Favorite Dish: We loved the montaditos with caramlised onion and grilled goats cheese.

This is one of the most famous spanish dishes, consisting of a big pan of rice with veggies and meat or seafood (depends on the type) or both (mixta). You can order it in main big restaurants and even find it as part of the "Menu del dia" in some specific days of the week.
They normally serve it for a minimum of 2 persons.

Cafe Central is one of the better valued cafes on Calle del Elvira, a street very popular with visitors to Granada thanks to its many restaurants and tapas bars.

We had already been to a few bars before we reached Central, but we were still hungry so we ordered plates of manchego cheese, serrano ham and beer.

The food was delicious and quite good value. I wasn't as big a fan of Cafe Central as of other tapas bars we visited in the city, mainly because it's a little less intimate and not as friendly, but it's still a good option for a reliable and good value meal in quite touristy part of the city.

Bar Aixa is a great place to start an evening of tapas-bars-hopping around Granada. It's located on Plaza Larga, a small, picturesque square in the Albaicin district of the city.

Aixa has a small terrace on the square, as well as couple of tables indoors, though most people were drinking and eating tapas at the bar. As in all the bars in Granada, tapas are free when you order a drink, with a different tapas for each drink your order. We were given two delicious sandwiches and olives to accompany our beers and wine. Prices are good too, a beer and wine came to about 3 Euros in total.

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After 4 hours of tromping around the Alhambra, I was ready for a little relaxation when we returned to our hostal. While the ladies went to our room to freshen up, I just continued down the street the short distance to Plaza Nueva where the excellent Restaurante Torres Bermejas is located. I had also sought refuge there for a cold beer the day before following my hours-long episode of dealing with the streets and traffic of Granada as we tried to find our hostal.

With the sun shining and many other customers also enjoying the ambiance, it was very relaxing to just observe the Alhambra high above and the historic buildings surrounding the Plaza.

Favorite Dish: I ordered just a glass of wine while I sat down with my DK Eyewitness travel book on Andalusia but the waiter returned with a delicious free tapas plate as well. It turned out to be meatballs and cooked potatoe chunks in a sauce along with fresh bread. The ladies soon joined me and another tapas plate of a different sort accompanied their drinks. This retaurant is also supposed to have an excellent reputation for its meals, but we never actually ate there - it was just a nice place to sit and watch Granada go by.

As a vegetarian I was getting pretty tired of having to explain in my broken Spanish to uncomprehending Spanish waiters that I ONLY EAT VEGETABLES and that last time I checked Jamon Serrano is not a vegetable. My latest tapas excursion led me by accident to a quirky place in Campo del principe, where you actually get a choice. Its not a vegetarian place (their specialty is argentinian steak, which my friend tells me was quite delicious) but they are at least docking their hat to the likes of me. I had tapas of cous cous fritters, and aubergines, while my meat-eating counterparts tucked into their steaks. I was very pleasantly surprised. They have a few vegetarian dishes on the menu and I will probably go back for dinner - in winter they close weekday lunchtimes which is a shame as its a good stop off on the way back from the alhambra. Also the owner is either English or speaks very good English which was handy!

Eden is set in a square at the foot of the Alhambra Palace Hotel and is one way down from the Alhambra. I visited in winter, so the square was pretty quiet, but its meant to be a buzzing place in summer with the bars and restaurants all having seating looking onto the square.

Favorite Dish: The cous cous fritters were unusual but very satisfying! I had never seen them before in Granada. My friends insist I mention the steak here, even though I will have to take their word for it!

Campo del Principe has a row of about 7 or 8 restaurant/bars with shady outside seating. Taberna de Baco is at the end on the Escuelas corner and has the usual free tapas to offer but also (as one of the the owners is Peruvian) there are some racion options (which you pay for) from his homeland.
*'La Ninfa' pizzeria restaurant is in that row... it looks charming with the plates on the wall but food is often bad so say friends!

Favorite Dish: Try the Peruvian dish with minced lamb, raisins, cumin and a crushed sweetcorn topping, or go for snails, or dates wrapped in bacon.

For the first time we experienced a FREE TAPAS...yes totally free with our order of beer. Stacey, Carmen and I were beginning to think that it would never happen, but here in Granada we stopped after a long day of touring, just by chance in one of the pubs just off the main street and we discovered that we got free tapas with our beer.

Favorite Dish: I must apologise at this point and say that I did not write down the address of the establishment, nor get a calling card, or photograph the place, sorry, it had been a long day....tired by happy, just wanted to let you know that the legendary free tapas with beer DOES exist, although it is NOT COMMON.