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Drinking
Tea and Coffee. There
is not a lot you can do to economise on tea and coffee, as
prices are generally standard. You can often save a little
by not sitting at a table, and drinks at a pavement table
are generally quite a lot more expensive. Tea with milk (té
con leche) is invariably horrible in Spain, though té
con limón (tea with a slice of lemon) can be very
acceptable. Coffee is a much better idea and is usually excellent,
the standard being espresso coffee, made with steam
rather than hot water. If you just order un café,
it will generally be black; ask for un café solo
if you need to specify this, un cortado if you want
a little milk, or un café con leche if you want
a lot of milk, at breakfast for example. Café con
leche is very slightly more expensive than café
solo, but is more nutritious (see Breakfast). In
summer, try freshly-made iced coffee (café con hielo):
you are given a hot, black coffee in a cup and a glass with
ice cubes — sweeten the coffee to taste, then pour it
over the ice cubes.
Soft Drinks and Water. Non-alcoholic beverages have
more or less standard prices, though you can economise a little
by specifying Spanish brand names such as Tri Naranjus (pronounced
tree-na-ran-chus, where the 'ch' sounds the same as
in Scottish words like 'loch'). If you want water, ask for
un vaso de agua and specify del grifo if necessary,
unless you specifically want bottled water (which is not usually
expensive anyway). If you are really thirsty, most bars will
serve you a glass of water (free, of course) and not blink
an eye if you do not order anything else — it is considered
practically a duty, though there are always exceptions, and
it is a good idea to say please and thank you.
Alcoholic Drinks. Although
beer (cerveza) is considered almost a soft drink in
Spain and tends to be light and easy to drink, it is actually
stronger than most English beer, so be a little careful, especially
if you are driving or in hot weather when you are more susceptible.
On the budget front, ordering draught rather than bottled
beer saves a little money, as does drinking at the bar instead
of sitting down. The standard measure is the caña,
a 20 cl glass, though the jarra (usually a half-litre
mug, sometimes a litre jar for sharing) is becoming more popular.
Young (very young) people will often share a litre-sized plastic
cup of beer, called a mini, which is undeniably economic
though a little too intimate for my liking.
(The cheapest way of drinking, of
course, is to buy in a supermarket and drink outdoors, and
this has long been popular with young Spaniards, who call
the custom el botellón. It has become too popular,
unfortunately, leading in many places to vandalism, dirt and
litter, noise problems and occasionally serious confrontations
between youths and residents, and by-laws have recently been
introduced in much of Spain to restrict the practice of drinking
in the street.)
Surprisingly, beer is more popular
than wine in Spain, where people are more likely to drink
wine with meals than for its own sake. Ask for un vino
tinto or un vino blanco, a red or white wine, and
you will usually be given the cheapest wine in the house.
If you want something a little better, most establishments
can still only offer you a Rioja or a Ribera del
Duero, though some places now offer a variety of wines,
prices often being chalked up on a blackboard, as in pseudy
winebars in England.
One of Spain's greatest pleasures
is its very affordable licors, especially after a meal, when
a glass of brandy (colloquially called coñac)
is an affordable luxury, especially for Brits. Spanish brandy
is excellent and it would be insanity itself to ask for any
other nationality in Spain, though the cheaper brands like
Terry's Centenario can be very fiery indeed. A little more
upmarket you find brands such as Osborne Veterano or Magno,
while brandies like Pedro Domecq's Carlos I are fine licors
for a special occasion. Alternatives to brandy include anis,
an anisette liqueur like Pernod (anis dulce by default
— be careful not to order anis seco unless you
have an ignifugous oesophagus); patxarán, a
Basque or Navarran version of sloe gin; and orujo,
a fearsome Galician drink distilled from marc, fermented grape
residues, and popular with the kind of drinker who likes a
challenge.
After dinner, Spaniards may go for
una copa or two, this being difficult to define but
basically meaning any alcoholic drink stronger than beer or
wine. (Note that in late-night places, drinking at the bar
is not usually less expensive than sitting down.) Again, there
are Spanish spirits which are cheaper than imported drinks,
though not as good as Spanish brandy. Some Spanish spirits
like Larios gin are virtually indistinguishable from a good
English gin except for the hangover; others, like DYC whisky,
are to be avoided at all costs.
Types
of Establishment
Note that Spanish businessmen are prone to mix their types
of business, and it is not unusual to see a single establishment
being called a restaurante-cafetería-cervecería-heladería,
for example.
Asador - A kind of restaurant specialising in roast
meats, often on the expensive side.
Café - A bar, often large and generally with
better decor than usual, normally opening until late at night
and where people sit at tables rather than standing at the
bar.
Cafeteria - A bar specialising, theoretically at least,
in coffee, though often indistinguishable from any other kind
of bar.
Casa de Comidas - Sadly becoming extinct, this is a
kind of cheap, working-class restaurant.
Cervecería - A bar specialising in beer, again
theoretically at least.
Club - Particularly when seen outside roadside establishments,
this denotes a brothel, even when the sign is in the colours
of Coca Cola.
Comedor - Halfway between a restaurante and
a casa de comidas, and headed for extinction like the
latter.
Heladería - Ice cream parlour.
Marisquería - A seafood restaurant, which does
not really belong on these pages as prices are unavoidably
high, though cheaper than in most of Europe by a long way.
If you are tempted to splash out, remember you will usually
buy your seafood by weight: prices tend to be given in kilos
and to look terrifying, but 100 grams is a tenth of the price
and represents nearly a quarter of a pound.
Mesón - A bar, frequently with rustic decoration,
invariably serving at least some food. The hungry budget traveller's
best bet.
Pub - A late-night bar where music is played: if it
is a disco-pub, it probably even has a DJ. Where you
want to be at one or two in the morning, before or instead
of going to a discotheque.
Restaurante - Restaurant, of course, given between
one and five forks by way of classification. The number of
forks is not a direct indication of the price but is a good
guide. A quick rule-of-thumb method for estimating the cost
of a Spanish restaurant meal beforehand, or one that works
for me, anyway, is to pick the second or third most expensive
item from the list of segundos platos and double
its price: this gives the approximate price of three courses
including wine and coffee, provided you are not choosing extravagantly.
Taberna - Tavern. To all intents and purposes, the
same as mesón.
Tasca - Tapas bar. Some of these have become out-and-out
restaurants, often too chic for comfort.
Terraza - Pavement café. In summer, as popular
as pubs for a late-night drink or more so, and some
terrazas can be outright fashion centres.
Whiskería - Not usually, as you would expect,
a bar specialising in whisky, but a kind of semi-brothel where
men pick up prostitutes, going elsewhere to do the deed.
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