Almería: Spain’s Hidden Tapa Paradise

Like I mentioned in my last post, Road to Almería, I had a great two years living there. I have always known that Spain is famous for its tapas but I had no idea that I was placed in the secret culinary mecca of Spanish Tapas.

Almost every single restaurant in Almería is a tapa restaurant. There during the mid day meal you can order the menu del dia. Which consists of a drink, first course, second course, bread, coffee or dessert for less than 10 euros! Since I am a vegetarian most of the time I was not able to enjoy the menu del dia. I always went for the tapas instead.

So, what makes Almeria’s tapas different from tapas in the rest of Spain? They are technically free! That’s right. Free. You decide what you want to drink (beer, wine, soda, tinto de verano) and your tapa comes free with the drink. The most I ever paid for a tapa there was 2.60. You can go out for a night on the town and have 3 plates of food and 3 drinks and pay less than 10 euros!  Since Almeria is on the coast, it has some of the freshest seafood you will eat in Spain, and everything costs the same.

This is a typical Almerienese tapa called migas, literally crumbs, it is made of bread crumbs that are fried together.
It is usually served with a few small fried fish and a fried pepper, this one was made with ham.

I have a few favorite restaurants there. But my most favorite just happens to be the first place my parents and I went to for lunch on the beach. It is called La Cabaña del Tío Tom (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, why? who knows…) Get there early if you want to be seated right away because there is always a line for both lunch and dinner services.

My favorite! Last time I went to Almeria to visit a friend I went with a guy who was visiting his
girlfriend in Almeria. On the way we were talking about where we wanted to go first when
we arrived....we both said Tio Tom's.

This restaurant is great because it has a massive menu that includes everything from paella, sandwiches, toasts, baked potatoes, meat (even half a chicken!) and lots of seafood. Here, there is something for everyone. And, did I mention, that the tapas are huge? When you can get half a chicken and a beer for 2.50, I think that is the definition of a good deal!

My friend Alaina and me. She is just as much a foodie as I am. She sent me a picture of a tapa she and her boyfriend
had one night....sauteed blood and onions.

My go to tapa here is called El Probe (The taste/sample). It has 1 or 2 fried peppers, french fries, a fried egg, bacon, caramelized onions, bread and ali oli sauce. For me, it is the perfect start to a meal after spending the day on the beach.

So, if you are ever in need of a beach/foodie vacation look no further than Almeria, Spain. You will not be disappointed.

Road to Almería

I’m going to take you back 3 years to when I was first applying to come to Spain. Filling out the application and having to decide on the top 3 places I would like to be placed was incredibly difficult. I thought about Salamanca which is where I studied abroad but ultimately decided to try something completely different. I wanted to live in a big city so I requested Cataluña, Andalucía and Aragon, hoping to be placed in Barcelona. In the end I consider myself very lucky not to have been in Barcelona because their language assistants didn’t get paid until January!

I remember the day I received my placement letter perfectly. All that month I spent most of my time sitting by the window waiting to see the mail man come. As soon as I saw him round the corner I would run out the door to see if he had my letter. The day it arrived I remember dropping everything to read it in the street. It was like being accepted to college all over again! It had some general information and midway through it had the address of my school written like this:

CEIP Concordia
C/Italíca S/N.
(04110) Campohermoso (Almería)

At this point I had no idea how to read a Spanish address so I didn’t know if the town was Campohermoso or Almería. The first thing I did when I got back inside was to do a Google search for Almería. You cannot imagine my excitement when I saw the little red dot pointing to the southern coast of Spain. Thoughts of becoming a beach bum began to race through my head.

I later found some very limited information on Campohermoso, turns out it is a farming town where most of Spain’s cucumbers, melons and the famous Raf tomatoes come from. Luckily, I was able to live in Almería just a 7 minute walk to the beach! It was great; I had really nice roommates, great coworkers and lived in a perfect little beach town.

Always a beautiful sunset on the beach!

Spanish Food Epiphany

One food that I have hated all my life are olives. I have always found them to be just salty and sour, especially my dad’s favorite, dried. Yuck! Spain is one of the biggest exporters of olive oil and olives are served with everything here. When I first arrived I avoided them like the plague. They were tossed into salads, on sandwiches and sitting there menacingly on my plate trying to contaminate my tapa with its salty juices.

My first year in Almeria I lived with an American girl and her boyfriend was at our house a lot. The only plus about that was he was from a small town outside of Almeria where his family had a lot of orange, lemon and olive trees. So, one weekend after they got back with bags and bags of free oranges they also brought some home pressed olive oil and a few jars of Manzanilla olives. Everyone was raging about how good they were. I wasn’t convinced. During a dinner party (a few drinks may have been involved) they convinced me to try one. And you know what? It was pretty darn good!

A night out with my roommates in Almeria

That was my one and only olive for awhile until I went out tapeando with a friend one night. During a lull in the conversation she looked down and said: “I thought you hated olives…” I didn’t even realize I had eaten the ones on my plate! After that I could not be stopped. I was buying olives at the markets and going through about a jar a week by myself! I have since calmed down and enjoy olives in more reasonable quantities…and I consider myself very lucky to be living in a country with such fresh and delicious olives!

yum :)