As much as we fell in love with the city of Madrid, I have to admit that it was hard to leave our apartment sometimes.
The reason for this being 1) we’re lazy, 2) our bed was so cool compared to the baking sun outside and 3) the views from our balcony were so beautiful. Most importantly though, our apartment had an amazing modern kitchen that allowed me to make things at home for a fraction of the time and money of going out on the town.
Would someone please remind me to stay at more rentals with awesome kitchens from now on? K thanks.
We did manage to make it out on our last night though, to one of the coolest bars we have been to in all of our travels: El Tigre Tapas Bar.
El Tigre’s reputation precedes it all over the internet. Anywhere you see the bar’s name online, it is usually followed by a dire warning about the huge portions of tapas right behind.
To us, this seemed like a good thing. And a challenge.
In addition to overflowing plates, we had been warned to expect overflowing crowds at El Tigre, but much to our surprise, we walked right in and stepped straight up to the bar. We ordered two “vino tintos” (red wines), and then took a few steps back and watched the show.
The “show” was like something off the Las Vegas Strip as the half- bartenders, half-acrobats showed off their mastery of making cold drinks fast and dishing mountains of hot tapas even faster. Scott went to the bar to pay for the drinks and came back with two full plates of tapas.
All that just for buying one round of red wine!
He was advised by a patron at the bar to tip on the first round to “make sure the bartenders hook you up on the second round”. Second round? Who in their right mind could take down a second round?
Well, Scott tipped just to be polite, oh who am I kidding, it was for that second round of tapas, which was just as good as the first if you are wondering. To accompany the second round we changed it up and had some Sangria (when in Spain…)
They garnished theirs with mint which added a real fresh twist to the Spanish signature drink. In the end, We feasted on Patatas Bravas, a Paella-type rice dish, mini burgers, and croquettes, and that coupled with the rustic and a bit random decor of El Tigre made one fantastic way to go out on top in Madrid.
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