Eating Out in Spain

One of the greatest pleasures of a holiday in Spain is eating out and enjoying the wide variety of regional and local dishes on offer. With your own transport from car hire in Malaga airport, you will have the freedom to roam the region at your own pace and experience a huge range of Spanish cuisine from simple breakfasts to full-blown three course meals to the delights of tapas.

You will find that meal times are a little different in Spain to what you may be used to. To experience the best atmosphere, it’s best to try to fit in with the local eating hours. This means not going out for your evening meal until 9pm, at the earliest! If you turn up at a restaurant any earlier than this, you may find that you are the only customers. Likewise, lunch (and more specifically the “menu del dia”) is usually only served between 1pm, when the kitchen opens, until about 3pm. A “menu del dia” is a value-for-money set lunch of three courses, often including bread and a small glass of wine or beer, for a price of between 5 and 8 euros. The best places for “menu del dia” will be packed out with workers at lunchtime and how full the car park is, is a good indication of how good the food is! Breakfast is usually a simple affair and may be no more than a strong coffee or a freshly squeezed orange juice and a “tostada” or toast. A real Spanish traditional breakfast is “chocolate con churros” (a cup of thick hot chocolate with piping hot fried “doughnuts” to dunk) and can often be bought from street vendors in the early hours of the morning.

Sampling different “tapas” is of course the best way to try different dishes. Tapas is simply a small “sample” of a dish but a couple will soon fill you up. You can ask for tapas to accompany your alcoholic or soft drink in any bar that does them. Sometimes it will be free of charge whilst other places may charge for them. If you come across a dish that you particularly like, why not try a bigger portion of it? A full size portion is known as a “racion” and this is often large enough for sharing between two. A smaller sized serving is called a “media racion”.

In tapas bars, the cold dishes will usually be displayed on the counter in a refrigerated cabinet. Hot tapas will be cooked to order in the kitchen. There may be a chalked up menu on a blackboard behind the bar or you may simply have to ask your waiter what tapas are available. However and wherever you choose to eat, having your own vehicle from car hire Malaga airport will mean that you can get to sample a wide range of Spanish foods.