«Bars are a lottery you never win,» wrote Juan Echanove, a Madrid actor and food blogger.
He clearly had Madrid's tapas bars in mind, so varied and so numerous that picking one at random is a genuine gamble.
Beyond the Spanish capital, tapas spots tend to follow a fairly predictable, vintage template. In Madrid, the only thing they all share is that they sell alcohol and a spread of small bites.
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From old-fashioned taverns to modern venues serving foams and foie gras, this guide to the city's tapas bars should boost your chances of enjoying a uniquely Spanish way of eating and drinking.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the busiest nights at most tapas bars. They usually open around midday and again at 8:30pm. Most are closed on Mondays.
Taberna Tempranillo
Among the dozens of bars on offer, Tempranillo keeps its quality, style and atmosphere high, helped enormously by a vast wine selection («tempranillo» refers to Spain's flagship red grape), though not always by the slightly gruff staff.
From a prized stool at the lacquered bar, you can gaze up at a wall-sized rack of Spanish wines while ordering a glass of full-bodied Priorat red and a crisp slice of cod toast (bacalao) with tomato sauce.
Taberna Tempranillo, Cava Baja 38. Tel: +34 91 364 15 32
Vi Cool
The name needs a little decoding. «Vi» is the Spanish word for wine with its ending, «no,» lopped off.
Cool? That's for you to decide.
This is one of the venues run by top Catalan chef Sergi Arola, serving some of Madrid's most inventive gourmet tapas, flawlessly presented.
Honey-toned wood, black accents and huge monochrome prints of the Boqueria market wrap around the bar and a short row of tables, which at lunchtime draw a crowd of ladies out for a bite. In the evening the space fills with free-spending hipsters.
Although this is more a place for raciones (sharing plates) than tapas, the $27 (€20) tapas menu delivers an excellent six-course tasting of high-quality modern cooking.
Vi Cool, Calle Huertas 12. Tel: + 34 91 429 4913
Espacio Cultural La Victoria
With the creeping commercialization of the Sol and La Latina districts, the more free-spirited bohemian types head a few blocks south to fashionable Lavapiés.
Here, 18 months ago, La Victoria was transformed from an abandoned shop into a creative crossroads and a lively bar.
Theatricality reigns in the shabby baroque setting, where you can lean against the bar, sink into a soft leather sofa, or slip through red velvet curtains to the tiny theater downstairs.
The tapas range from a classic Spanish tortilla to Mexican quesadillas. They even serve hearty breakfasts to hungry actors after a long night.
Espacio Cultural La Victoria, Calla Santa Isabel 40. Tel: + 34 91 528 6457
Mercado de San Anton
Spain's craze for food halls began with Mercado San Miguel, but success breeds complacency, and the smaller Mercado de San Anton in Chueca offers better food and a better vibe.
The shared eating and drinking space means you can grab a plate of oysters or wasabi tuna tartare from a cheerfully run seafood stall and wash them down with a glass of coffee or Galician albariño before moving on to sample the next bar.
Communal tables and stools look out over a large atrium, so even when the weekend crowds pack in, it still feels roomy.
Sabores del Mar stands out among the stalls for its ultra-fresh seafood tapas.
Mercado de San Anton, Calle Augusto Figueroa. Tel: +34 913 30 07 30
La Musa Latina
Table tennis in a vaulted basement bar is part of the charm of this laid-back tapas bar and restaurant on one of Madrid's prettiest old squares. The style runs from reclaimed-wood tables to industrial chic, creating an artful blend.
The tempting location means that in summer you can settle in at a table under the trees to try some fairly unusual tapas, including octopus, wild boar, tempura prawns, and huitlacoche, a Mexican mushroom.
La Musa Latina, Costanilla de San Andres 12. Tel: +34 91 354 02 55
Bodega de la Ardosa
Around for more than 110 years, this legendary bar is exactly the kind of place you'd love to have next door.
It's impossible not to fall for the cozy, worn interior with its old photographs, barrels, tapas boards and tall shelves lined with bottles of wine and liqueur: quintessential vintage Madrid.
On top of that, the tapas are varied and good, from potato tortilla to creamy salmorejo (cold tomato soup) and croquettes filled with blue cheese, salt cod or cured beef.
Known for its Czech pilsner, vermouth and Guinness on tap, Ardosa also pours a decent glass of sherry, although the wine list is limited and young.
In summer, the regulars spill onto the pavement late into the night.
Bodega de La Ardosa, Calle de Colón 13. Tel: +34 915 21 49 79
Albora
Chic hardly does justice to this refined, ultra-elegant tapas bar and restaurant in Salamanca, Madrid's smart shopping district.
Step inside and you enter a temple of tapas beneath a soaring glass ceiling, where the lighting shifts from daytime blue to nighttime red and jazz drifts soothingly through the room.
There are spots for an intimate meal, but the real fun is at the bar or at one of the high tables, in the company of men in blazers and women in stiletto heels.
Here you can watch a leg of Joselito ham being expertly carved, or delicate little cold tapas being assembled. The ingredients are top quality, with wines to match.
Restaurante Álbora, Calle de Jorge Juan 33. Tel: + 34 91 781 6197
Arzabal
Opening opposite Retiro Park in 2009, a year after the recession set in, Arzabal nevertheless did well enough to launch a sister venue around the corner.
This is where you come to blow your banker's bonus, ordering a tin of royal Baikal caviar with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot for $314 all in, or more sensibly settling for a plate of garlic prawns at $25 with a bottle of white Montrachet ($64).
The main action centers on the bar section up front, which at times feels like a private party.
For designer comfort, you can retreat to the mellow area at the back.
Arzabal, Avenida Menéndez Pelayo 13. Tel: +34 915 57 26 91
Antigua Casa Angel Sierra
For nearly a century, this ornate, dusty old bar has dominated the once-rough, now boho-chic district of Chueca.
In 1995 it featured in one of Pedro Almodóvar's films, «La Flor de mi Secreto» («The Flower of My Secret»), which left behind a painted ceiling as its legacy.
The regulars span every age, eccentricity and nationality, though a lot depends on the time of day.
Around midday you'll find yourself shoulder to shoulder with old-timers from the neighborhood popping in for a glass of draught vermouth ($2) and a free plate of olives. Late in the evening it fills up with a young, colorful crowd that spills outdoors in summer.
The tapas are cheap and cheerful, hardly refined.
Antigua Casa Angel Sierra, Calle Gravina 11. Tel: + 34 91 531 0126
Estado Puro
Cutting-edge design and revolutionary tapas come together in this contemporary hotel bar.
With its own entrance, conveniently located across from the Prado, Estado Puro is a prime spot for another kind of art: the culinary kind.
The brainchild of two avant-garde chefs, Paco Roncero and Alfonso Castellanos, it turns out Ferran Adrià-style foams and reinvented classics such as an ambrosial 21st-century Spanish tortilla served in a glass, a vertical potato ali-oli, or a gingerbread "sandwich" filled with foie gras.
The nightclub-like interior is defined by black surfaces, tall stools and a vaulted ceiling of illuminated mantilla combs.
Estado Puro, NH Hotel Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Canovas del Castillo 4. Tel: +34 917 79 30 36
