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Dinner (la cena). About
ten p.m., even later in Madrid at weekends, and never before
nine. The menú del día is not
normally available in the evening, except in tourist spots,
and the biggest meal of the day for most Brits or Americans
is not as important for Spaniards, anyway. They do
dine out, of course, and sometimes have a sit-down, knife-and-fork
dinner, but will more often take this meal in the form of
tapas and raciones, portions. One waiter
I know, when asked if he could offer anything para cenar,
for dinner, put it like this: "Cena, cena, no
tengo, sólo raciones" ("Dinner, what
you might call dinner, no — just portions"). This
can make dinner the most interesting (not to say chancy) meal
of the day for the visitor, especially the non-Spanish-speaking
visitor, ordering by pointing at things enticingly laid out
on the counter.
Tapas. There are any number
of stories about the origins of this Spanish fast-food, the
most satisfactory and so the most widely believed being that
bartenders in Andalusia developed the custom of placing a
piece of bread over customers' glasses to stop the flies getting
in their wine (if they were so squeamish, how on earth could
they take the next step and eat the bread?).
In many parts of Spain, e.g., Madrid,
tapas are given free and automatically with drinks
ordered (not tea or coffee). In this case, they will evidently
be fairly basic: a few olives, a boquerón (anchovy
lightly cured by soaking in oil and vinegar) laid across a
potato chip (crisp to the English), a piece of bread with
a slice of morcilla (black pudding)... There are countless
variations. Note that tapas are only served as an aperitivo
and if the time of day does not correspond, say at 11.30 pm,
they will not be served. When tapas are free, that
does not mean they are included in the price, it means they
are a gift, and it is very bad manners to complain about what
you are given, though if you do not eat your tapa,
you may well be asked if you would prefer something else.
In other parts of the country, especially
where cooking is considered an artform, e.g. the Basque Country,
tapas are more substantial, often more elaborate, and
are not free. In this case, expect to pay something like the
price of a drink per tapa, but after three or four
you may not need anything else for dinner.
Raciones. When the ración, portion, is
cold, it may be of a 'single' food: ham, cheese, chorizo...
or may be a combination. But when the ración is
a hot dish, it is usually a 'single' food (not necessarily
simple): champiñones or setas (different
types of mushroom) baked on a hot-plate with a little oil
and ham; sepia (cuttlefish), also baked or fried with
lemon, garlic and parsley; gambas al ajillo, prawns
cooked quickly with oil and garlic and served scaldingly hot
in an earthenware dish... Travellers observe groups of Spaniards
sharing a number of raciones and conclude that it is
like eating Chinese food, with lots of dishes being eaten
at the same time, though in fact, this is not usually the
case: most Spaniards prefer to eat one thing at a time, the
plates being finished off sequentially.
Budget travellers will find the cheaper
raciones vary from place to place, though staples include
patatas bravas (sauted potatos in a spicy tomato sauce),
ensaladilla rusa (Russian Salad) and the pincho
de tortilla (substantial slice of potato omlette, eaten
hot or cold). In a few places, you can order a media ración
(half portion) of some dishes, especially cold ones.
Snacks and Other Forms of Eating
Bocadillos. The Spanish form of the sandwich is often
a lifesaver for budget travellers in Spain, being substantial,
cheap and widely available. A bocadillo is made with
long, crusty, French-bread type rolls, never buttered, one
reason being that the filler — ham, chorizo, cheese,
omelette — is often a little greasy. If you are really
saving money, buy your pan (bread) and your filling
in a supermarket, tienda de alimentación (grocer's)
or panadería (baker's); in the latter two they
will usually be happy to slice your bread open for you or
even actually make your bocadillo for you. In catering
establishments like bars, the standard of bocadillos
has risen immeasurably in recent years in response to specialised,
hamburger chain-inspired businesses which have spread throughout
the country — Pans
& Company was the pioneer.
Sandwiches. Apart from the very ordinary, mass-produced
sandwiches you will find in supermarkets, there are two interesting
forms of the sandwich in Spain: toasted sandwiches
like those found in France (the sandwich mixto, a toasted
ham-and-cheese sandwich, is clearly a transplanted croque
monsieur), and those served in specialised shops like
Rodilla,
which are delightful Victorian affairs in triangles with the
crusts cut off and often containing a paste filling. They
make a great pick-me-up when you are on a shopping expedition.
Montados. Small bocadillos, very handy between
meals.
Tostas. Originally Catalan, now found everywhere,
these are substantial canapés on thick, toasted bread.
Plato Combinado. Again, this is often misunderstood
by travellers, because at first sight the plato combinado
can look like northern European food. For example, one plato
combinado might be a few sticks of asparagus with a blob
of mayonnaise, sitting next to a pork chop, with a few french
fries and perhaps a little salad. Aha, thinks the traveller,
meat and two veg, just like at home, right? Wrong. The plato
combinado is two or more courses on the same plate, in
this case the first course being the asparagus and the mayonnaise
and the second being the pork chop and its guarnición,
decoration. Spaniards will eat the asparagus first,
and then get started on the chop, but if you want to eat it
all at the same time, no-one will say anything — ever.
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