Tapas Routes

Navarra Tapas

Tapas Routes

¿Where can we get some good pinchos tapas to eat?

The Tapas Week, Navarre has become a benchmark for this type of bar cuisine. This present guide, published by the Asociación de Hostelería, is in response to this demand.

Its aim is to offer a good selection of bars serving tapas, to allow enthusiasts of this miniature cuisine to select a tapas route as an alternative to lunch or an evening meal.

The Guide presents the bars by zones and proximity, for easy route planning, and, for further guidance, it also indicates the times at which tapas are served and the specialities of each particular bar or cafeteria.

Tapas from Navarre Haute cuisine comes to the bar

A long-standing custom in Navarre is the chiquiteo (bar-hopping with small drinks (chiquitos) of wine etc. and banderillas (bite sized food on a cocktail stick – named after the barbed darts used during the bullfi ght).

This custom started when the bar was called a tavern and when groups of friends started to practice the healthy custom of going from one bar to another, chatting along the way.

Today bars and cafeterias in Navarre still maintain this tradition of serving wine and banderillas, but now with some spectacular improvements as far as the quality of the cuisine and innovations are concerned.

In the northern part of Spain the word “pincho” has gradually replaced what used to be called the “banderilla” in Navarre, whilst in the centre and south of Spain the word “tapa” is still maintained.

However, this name change is of minor importance in comparison to the tremendous evolution experienced by this culinary concept. Those simple, tasty tapas have gradually developed into sophisticated dishes, miniature creations of high cuisine.

And, best of all, this cuisine is becoming more and more popular amongst catering professionals and customers alike...