It is easy to agree that among the best gastronomic traditions in Spain is to accompany the drink with a free tapa. It is true that it does not always happen, nor everywhere the quantities and qualities are the same. However, as we all know, what is good, if it is free, is twice as good, and in all these places they are good enough to bring their best version to the tapas.
1. La Petisqueira and La Petisqueira II
The tapas at La Petisqueira are tremendously generous, more like a ration than a tapa. Although the beer, as expected, is not one of the cheapest (4,75 € for a double beer). Of course, don’t be alarmed if when you arrive you don’t manage to open the door because it’s packed to the rafters with avid drinkers.
📍Location: Churruca street, 6 (Alonso Martínez) and Mejía Lequerica street, 17 (Alonso Martínez).
2. El Tigre Sidra Bar and El Tigre del Norte
El Tigre is one of those places in Madrid that you have to try at least once in your life, especially when your young stomach still has no filter. No matter if you’re only going to be in Madrid for a weekend, or your culinary tastes are of the most refined, you have to stop by this bar and live the experience of the newcomer to the capital.
📍Location: Calle de las Infantas, 23 and 30 (Chueca) and Calle de Hortaleza, 23 (Chueca).
3. El Lagar Restaurant
Few bars in Madrid have as much emotional value as El Lagar for students who have just arrived in the capital. This bar in Argüelles is located in front of the PSOE headquarters, on Ferraz street. At El Lagar, the more drinks you order, the higher the quality of the tapa you get. Or at least that’s what word of mouth tells you. An uncomplicated, traditional and neighborhood bar.
📍Location: Calle Ferraz, 39 (Argüelles)
4. El Respiro
El Respiro, an authentic Madrilenian tavern, is run by Galicians who not only serve you a wonderfully poured beer, but also accompany it with tapas ranging from scrambled eggs with asparagus to suggestive braviolis. Impossible not to return.
📍Location: Calle de las Infantas, 34 (Chueca)
5. La Pomarada
La Pomarada is a traditional Asturian bar, defined as a cachopería, which is usually full and has survived the gentrification and overcrowding of Conde Duque, maintaining the same aesthetics and menu. A rara avis. The tapas vary every day and from time to time they do a round of pinchos around the place. We recommend trying their potato omelette. Another incentive? It has the option of free cachopo buffet.
📍Location: Calle Conde Duque, 3 (Conde Duque)
6. Bar Sierra
Bar Sierra is located in Chamberí, near Moncloa. So it is common to see this small place full of students looking for the magic combo: accompany the beers with tapas for the same price because the Madrid night promises to be long.
📍Location: Calle Galileo, 41 (Chamberí)
7. La Pequeña Graná
La Pequeña Graná is already an icon of Embajadores street. Granada is the epicenter of free tapas and gives Madrid a fair and healthy competition. And that is precisely what you will find in this bar: Andalusian-style tapas philosophy in its purest form.
📍Location: Calle de Embajadores, 124 (Delicias)
8. El rincón Abulense
From Andalusia we go to Avila with El rincón Abulense, where the tapas are homemade and the waiters have a very friendly sense of humor. This bar is located next to the Hotel Senator, in Gran Vía, a privileged location to start the Madrid revelry.
📍Location: Calle Caballero de Gracia, 18 (Downtown)
9. Padrao Bar
Bar Padrao, very close to Gran Vía, goes viral every now and then for its suggestive habit of serving great free appetizers with every drink, such as sandwiches, paella or chicken wings.
Although you can’t choose the tapa, those of us who have been there wonder how a bar that gives you a sandwich the size of a loaf of bread with a couple of beers can be profitable. In addition to these snacks, the bar offers a menu with typical Spanish dishes such as huevos rotos, bravas and calamares.
📍Location: Travesía de la Parada, 4 (Gran Vía)
10. Casa Iván
In Casa Iván, in the heart of the Carmen district, the logic is simple: you order a drink and it is accompanied by a generous tapa? of Asian origin. The great peculiarity of this bar, which is actually a terrace the size of a canodrome, is that the beer is accompanied by such unusual tapas as six uramakis or a plate of noodles -or croquettes, or wings.
📍Location: Plaza Virgen del Romero, 8 (El Carmen)