Spanish Eating

The main meal of the day in Spain is lunch. Midday in Spain is 2pm so don't expect any restaurant to be open before then! They have the concept of the menu del dia (menu of the day) which is a 3 course meal at midday with wine/beer. The cost of this ranges from 15 euros to 25 euros depending if your in a tourist place or not.

At night they just usually have a small meal or order a beer and you get free tapas if your not in Madrid, nothing really opens before 8:30 pm though!

To find the best tapas bar look for grottiest bar where there is rubbish on the bar floor where they have thrown their toothpicks or whatever. That's where the best tapas are!

spanish tidbits

• una caña - 7oz of beer - madrid beer is Mahou (pronounced maaohhh)
• un doble - pint of beer
• cerveza sin alcohol - 0% beer (pronounced cerbesa sin alcool )
• Mahou Tostada - brown ale 0% that I can highly recommend
• vino tinto - red wine (best order a Rioja pronounced reeoha)
• vino blanco seco - dry white wine
• pulpo - octopus (most famous pulop a la gallega)
• calamar romana - fried squid like we have (shit!)
• sepia a la plancha - squid blanched - awesome!
• morcilla - black pudding
• chorizo - spicy spanish pork sausage (not really spicy)
• fabadas - white bean soup cooked with chorizo and morcilla - awesome!
• menu del dia - menu of the day
• la cuenta por favor - the bill please
• de nada - 'of nothing" aka your welcome
• gracias - thanks
• me cago en tu leche - I shit in your milk

Published: 2025-08-28

Tagged: FAQ wine beer spanish phrases tapas