AFTER discovering that food tourism helped bring almost ten million tourists to the country in 2015, Spain’s Tourism Agency has declared that from now on, the third Thursday in June will be officially known as World Tapas Day.
Owner Marcos Fernandez is not just passionate about it, the man is obsessed by the quality of his jamon, and he hopes you like jamon too...
Tapas is a word recognised in most major languages. In their simplest form, tapas are small dishes of food (either hot or cold) designed to be nibbled at whilst the drink and conversation is in full flow. It’s also common to travel round, having one or two drinks and snacks in a variety of bars along the way.
So what better way for us to celebrate (other than getting the first flight out of Manchester Airport to Madrid, Seville or Barcelona, obviously) than to take you with us on a virtual tapas bar crawl around five of best Spanish restaurants in the city centre picking our favourite tapas dishes as we go. Oh and a matching bevvy of course.
Put on some comfortable shoes and your eating trousers and walk this way Señor y Señorita:
The route
TAPEO - Huevos Rotos
Let's meet on Deansgate, at the brand new Tapeo and Wine, to begin our tapas crawl with something proper hearty; sausage, egg and chips with beer. Oh, it all just sounds so much better in Spanish. Gird your loins for the treat that is Huevos Rotos; fried duck egg, on top of deliciously crispy golden chips with delicious chorizo and Padron peppers.
Tipple: This would go down nicely with a chilled glass of Estrella Galicia, from the family brewery that now produces 200 million litres of the stuff every year.
209 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3NW
Tapeo's Huevos Rotos
IBERICA - Jamon
Right, get your coats, we’re moving round the corner to Iberica in Spinningfields for something simple and pure quality. Although the other Spanish restaurants in town are proud of their Serrano Ham, we don’t believe that anyone takes it quite as seriously as Iberica. Owner Marcos Fernandez is not just passionate about it, the man is obsessed by the quality of his jamon, and he hopes you like jamon too.
You're best bet is the award-winning Juan Pedro Domecq cured in the special microclimate of the Jabugo area. This 100% Iberico bellota ham, or ‘Pata Negra’, named for their typical black hooves, comes from pigs that have roamed free in the Dehesa for almost two years, prior to slaughter. The hams are then hung in specially conditioned cellars for a minimum of 42 months before being cut paper thin by an expert.
Tipple: Ham of this quality needs to be savoured and swirled around in the mouth with a perfectly matching cool Manzanilla sherry such as La Guita, one of the most popular brands in Spain.
14-15 The Avenue, Manchester M3 3HF
Iberica's dreamy jamon
LA BANDERA - Croquetas
Next, over to Ridgefield and La Bandera, which is owned by a couple of lads from the Canary Islands so proud of their native potatoes you’ll find them in most of their dishes. Despite the fact we’ll later experience black balls in another form, no tapas crawl would be complete without Croquetas, and we think that the Croquetas de Chipirón, or Squid ink croquettes here are very special – just make sure they don’t leave your teeth black.
Tipple: To drink, the croquetas are hearty enough to stand up to a good red wine, and we enjoyed ours with a smooth glass of Al Zarcita, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon Tempranillo and Syra from Extremadura.
2 Ridgefield, Manchester, Lancashire M2 6EQ
La Bandera's Croquetas de Chipirón
EL GATO NEGRO - Oysters
Sober up, we’re moving on to another classy place. Take a left out onto King Street and right up towards El Gato Negro, a restaurant owned by English folk devoted to spreading the word about great Spanish dishes. In his review, Gordo awarded Gillardeau Oysters with yuzu juice and pickled cucumber 10/10 and named it his dish of the year. We can’t better that.
Tipple: We asked chef patron Simon Shaw what he’d recommend to drink with them, and in his no-nonsense Yorkshire manner he plumped straight for Alfred O Arribas Blanco ‘Goates’ 2014, which they don’t serve by the glass, only the bottle. So take your time and savour this excellent white wine for a bit before we move on to our final tapas joint.
52 King St, Manchester M2 4LY
El Gato Negro oysters
LUNYA - Morcilla
Finally, walk five minutes through St Ann's Square to the glorious Barton Arcade where you'll find another Spanish gaff run by local Hispanophiles. This independent delicatessen, restaurant and bar loves all things Catalan and Spanish. The bar here is perfect for a drink anytime, but they have recommended another sherry to go with this cracking dish.
To show that they’re not staunch traditionalists, and don’t mind playing about with their recipes, we recommend you try their Morcilla. They’ve taken the Spanish version of black pudding, rolled it into little balls, coated them in crushed cornflakes then deep fried them into five perfect mouthfuls.
Tipple: This dish is packed with a range of flavours, and a glass of nutty, sweet and toasty Leonor Palo Cortado, will enhance them all. It’s delicious but a bit contrary. Despite this seemingly sweet flavour profile, it is actually delightfully dry.
7 Barton Square, Manchester M3 2B
Lunya's Morcilla balls
So there you have it, five of the finest tapas from five of Manchester's very best tapas joints, washed down with one pint of beer, one glass of red, one glass of white and two glasses of sherry... now *hiccup* why were we doing this again?
Have you got a favourite tapas dish? Let us know in the comments below or @mcrconfidential
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