Nothing so embodies the Spanish ideal of life as a symphony of simple pleasures as sitting down with friends at a bar and filling a table with glasses of wine, laughter, stories and piles of little dishes filled with black, green, spiced, pickled and filled olives, fried calamari and baby squid with lemon, slices of Spanish cured ham and every seafood delight imaginable.

Here you can find our favourites tapas bar:

This attractive, wood-and-stone cider house comes close to re-creating its Basque prototype. Here they serve fish, seafood and vegetable pintxos (titbits), as well as meat, omelettes and all sorts of cheese. Sit or stand at the counter, ask for a plate, pick your own montaditos, small portions of food on small pieces of bread, order some wine (nothing better than a glass of txakoli -Basque white wine- to wash these delights down with) and do not through away the toothpicks. You pay at the end by the number of toothpicks you have on your plate. C/ Argenteria 62 (+34 93 343 54 10) - Open: 10.30-24h bar; 12.30-1am restaurant daily