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Alicante guide · Alirena

Neighbourhood tapas

Four stops, one evening, fifteen euros a head. Eight bars in the centre where the gilda is not off a menu and the octopus comes off the grill.

Neighbourhood tapas

Alicante tapas (tapeo) is a bar-counter conversation: you order, eat, pay, leave, and sit down at the next one. It is not a sit-down meal with a linen napkin. If the table has a slate board and the menu fits on one sheet, you are doing fine. If it has a tablecloth, no longer.

The fifteen-minute rule

At each bar you stay twenty minutes maximum: a small beer or a vermouth, one tapa, pay, out. If you stay for the second round, it is no longer tapeo, it is now dinner. That is the difference.

Eight bars where yes

  • Bar Manolín (C/ San Pascual, 6). Homemade gilda with marinated anchovy. €2.80 with a small beer included. Closes at 11pm.
  • El Buen Comer (C/ Castaños, 5). Grilled octopus, grandmother's Russian salad. The bar fills up at 8:30pm.
  • Casa Roma (C/ Mayor, 14). Garden tomato with bonito tuna and oil. One tapa, €3.50. Closed on Sundays.
  • Bodega de Fermín (C/ Argensola, 8). House vermouth, clams marinara €4. Discovered by tourists but worth it.
  • Tapería La Catalina (Plaza San Cristóbal, 4). Stew croquettes and red prawn ones. Beer €2.20.
  • El Refugio del Padre (C/ Bailén, 17). Alicante vermouth with soda siphon. Mojama (cured tuna) from Santa Pola. No terrace, just the bar.
  • Mercado Central, ground floor (Avda. Alfonso X El Sabio, 10). Four bars inside the market. Fried small fish and tinned seafood. Midday only.
  • Casa Federica (C/ Tomás López Torregrosa, 6). Marinated anchovies, roasted peppers with anchovy. Beer at €1.80.

A four-stop route

Start at 19:30 at Bar Manolín (gilda + beer), move on at 20:00 to El Buen Comer (octopus + beer), 20:45 at Casa Roma (tomato + vermouth), finish at 21:30 at La Catalina (croquettes + beer). Four stops, one tapa per place, four drinks. Total: between €13 and €16 per person.

What to order

  • Gilda. A skewer of olive, piparra pepper and anchovy. €1.80–2.80.
  • Garden tomato. Raf tomato with bonito tuna and oil. €3–4.
  • Russian salad (ensaladilla). Each bar has its own. Quality varies a lot.
  • Mojama. From Santa Pola if it is good. €4–6.
  • Grilled octopus. Griddle or grill, paprika, oil. €6–8.
  • Clams marinara. €6–9 small portion.
  • Marinated anchovies. €3.50–5.
  • Roasted pepper with anchovy. €3.50–4.

What you do not order at tapeo

  • Sangría. That is for tourists. If you want wine, local red or vermouth.
  • Potato omelette (unless the place is a specialist). It tends to be factory-made.
  • Burger, tacos or sushi at the bar. It mixes badly and pushes up the price.
  • "Organised tapas tours" from the town council. Better to improvise.