Tapas Low Cost

After a well-deserved holidays, full of dinners and more dinners with family and friends, full of parties and full of turrón and polvorones, I come back after discovering more interesting hidden corners of Madrid to tell you about.

Today’s post is more about helping you to afford that January’s after-expenses issue that stress us so much.

Going out for dinner or for some tapas at any hour of the day it’s always a pleasure difficult to erase from our daily lifes, and more for those who love being part of our Capital’s active life.

How can we continue living in 2013 with these good habits without ending up with a big hole in the pocket? We just have to discover those places with low cost tapas which are already very extended among the city.

For many madrileans 100 Montaditos is already very well-known but this place has to be also a pilgrimage place to all of those Erasmus students who arrive first to Madrid. As its name claims, the menu is composed by 100 little baguette sandwiches with all the varieties you can imagine. They vary from 80 cents to 2 euro each one depending on the ingredients and the bread. However, on wednesdays they seduce us with the “everything 1 euro” offer. To complete the meal, a range of salads, nachos and chips with sauces and for drinking, jars and jars of beer for 2 euro. In some places there is the offer of a beer jar and a baguette sandwich for 2 euro all. Incredible, right?

The next one in our list is La Sureña, another recently installed restaurant in Madrid’s streets. It’s similar to 100 Montaditos and it could be its bigest competitor but they share the same owner, a clever guy, right?. However, La Sureña it’s more focused in Andalusia’s typical gastronomy, with more fish in all its options. Plates and big “tostas” for 6 euro (thrusdays the second one is free).
You should try the pheasant tears plate and the prawns and imitation elvers big “tosta”, just spectacular!. What’s the best thing of La Sureña? Without any doubt, the 5 bottles of beer for 3 euro. People say this is a dangerous place because it’s impossible to ask “only for one beer”!.

The 3rd one but not less important, it’s a place that won my heart from the very first time. Hidden in Valdemarín Area in Aravaca, we find a very chic lounge with a charming and expensive look-like gastrobar decoration what don’t match with its prices at all. En Copa de Balón was a wine cellar whose owners decided to set up a couple of tables and convert it in a lounge keeping the prices of the wine cellar. That’s why wines are only offered the whole bottle. Prices start in 5 euro/bottle and yes, some ones have a very high price with 98 Parker Points, but these are not the majority. I could say the average price is around 10 euro. Personally, I recommend you a very different red wine, young and soft: Habla del Silencio from Extremadura (8.80 euro). En Copa de Balón’s menu has also some exquisit selection of dishes for dinner but, what is better than some wine with cheese, grapes and nuts?. It’s also highlighted the Kobe meet hamburger, a very expensive one in any other chic restaurant of Madrid, but here it’s just around 14 euro.

Enjoy it!

Cheers,

Sofía J.Valls

FYI…
9 cheap bars to have some beers and tapas in Madrid by Viaje en mi Mochila

————————————————————-

Después de unas merecidas vacaciones, de cenas y más cenas con la familia y amigos, de fiestas y de turrón y polvorones, vuelvo tras haber descubierto más rincones de Madrid interesantes que revelaros.