cafeconleche

Hi All, Can anyone recommend any Tapas Bars in Alicante city? Many thanks

Grebo

Lizarran tapas bar, on the road between the two main El Corte Ingles shops.
You can graze the tapas & the bill is taken from the number & type of cocktail sticks you have.
Great variety & if you go at lunch time they are constantly bringing out hot tapas around the tables. yummy.


"One of a chain of Tapas restaurants in the area Lizarran serves over 350 variations on the Tapas theme."

Avenida Maisonnave 20

Centro Ciudad

Alicante

Tel +34 965 924 022

cricketman

Lizarran is great and very convenient, but they dont normally do tapas

The ones I go in do pinxos i.e. pieces of bread with different toppings, raciones or set meals, but no tapas

Actually very few Spanish places do tapas anyway, its a bit of a myth. There are exceptions e.g. Granada has a big tapas tradition

steviedeluxe

Huh??

Are you confusing the term "tapas" with free tapas? All tapas means is a portion of food on a small plate, and even if they don't anything away free, most bars in Spanish cities will serve up something for a price, even in Barcelona.
Plenty of cities I've been to where you get free tapas with your drink - Ovideo, Leon, Madrid, Segovia, Teruel, Cuenca, and as you say Granada.
It doesn't seem to be that common near the coast though, and certain places like the Basque country don't do it either I understand.

cafeconleche

[QUOTE=Grebo;9959396]Lizarran tapas bar, on the road between the two main El Corte Ingles shops.
You can graze the tapas & the bill is taken from the number & type of cocktail sticks you have.
Great variety & if you go at lunch time they are constantly bringing out hot tapas around the tables. yummy.


"One of a chain of Tapas restaurants in the area Lizarran serves over 350 variations on the Tapas theme."

Avenida Maisonnave 20

Centro Ciudad

Alicante

Thanks very much Grebo,
I have actually been to several Lizarrans and agree they are yummy, especially when they bring the hot food around However I was wondering if there were more family run places maybe in the old town? My daughter lives in Cadiz and there are loads of places there. I'm sure Alicante has them, I just need to hunt them out

spainrico

We have 2 Lizarrans in Torrevieja and IMO they are fast food tapas - a sort of McDonalds of tapas.

To me real tapas is a good selection of meat (ie magra) or seafood or even vegetarian (ie alcachofas) from which you can choose and be served in a little dish/or plate with real bread (not bread sticks) for a reasonable price.

And whilst Torrevieja is a long way from being the gourmet hot spot of Spain it is still possible to get tapas here so I don't doubt you can get nearer the real thing in Alicante than Lizarrans.

The best I have ever had (and all for free, OK we were hitting the bar) was in a little pueblo in the Jaen province.

But as always each to their own.

jimenato

I too am a bit confused about this. Nearly every Spanish bar I go to does tapas. Can you explain what you mean?

bob_bob

Take into account that cman lives in a different Spain to everyone else, so maybe they don't do tapas there.

cricketman

Obviously I do!

In my experience, more bars do raciones or media raciones than tapas, across the whole of Spain.

The places that do tapas usually have those not very nice tapa display units which I usually avoid. The good and fresh stuff usually comes in the form of raciones

And very few people go out to eat tapas, you may have one or two with a drink, but not for a meal. Certain cities like Granada or Madrid have more of a tapas culture

Steviedeluxe, tapas in Oviedo is very unusual.

None of the 3 Lizarran's I've been to served tapas i.e. small plates of food. It was either pinxos (montaditos in Castellano), raciones, platos combinados or a set menu

Comparing Lizarran to McDonalds isnt very fair. The quality of the food is very good, although my OH says they specialise in "fritanga" and isnt a fan

Grebo

[QUOTE=cafeconleche;9959528] Yes there are plenty of others, as you said the best way is to hunt them out, have a wander around the back streets in la Rambla area & around the town hall.
Just stick you head in the door & see if you like the look of the place.
As to 'proper' tapas, what a load of b****x, there are many ways they get served neither is proper or right, just go with what you prefer, it's easy to make a meal of them & can be quite fun. Lizarran is just one commercialised example.
Happy hunting & don't ask what your eating If you like it who cares

BTW the best variety we came across was on a bike trip to Granada from ALicante, Small village in the Alpujarra region one free with every beer, we didn't need a meal after wards I can tell you.

HBG

Alicante is a major Spanish city and absolutely full of tapas bars. The area around the Station, the two El Cortes, the Consulate and down to the port has one every few yards.

It's no good if. like me, you're on a diet. Tapas are fattening and the choice of chocolate for afters is frightening.

My weigh-in day is Wednesday, but we're going out for tapas tomorrow. I fear the worst.

Grebo

Get some credit in, go for a brisk walk or do something energetic other than lifting the tea cup If your bladder can stand it skipping is a real calorie burner & cut back on today's chocolate ration that will help.

pixieve

I live in the city centre, just behind the Ayuntamiento, and there are tonnes of tapas restaurants beside me!! I have been to most and I can tell you that the BEST is "La Barra del Buen Comer" on Calle Mayor. The seafood dumplings are to die for, as is the goats cheesea and the tapa de paella! And the food is sooooo cheap!

JLFS

I think a lot of people see what is around them and think it is true for the rest of Spain, which it is not-

Cman is correct about what the med. raciones and raciones being more common in Spain that tapas, and the word tapa is often confused with the free bits given with a drink.

In most regions of Spain it is the way cman says. So dont be too hard on him.

JLFS

And he has got the Billy Connoly trousers, so he should not look too out of place skipping down the street.

It is something B. Con himself would do...