Tapas is more than a meal at this Barcelona restaurant - it's a way of life
This popular tapas bar is beloved for its authentic dishes.
There's already a long line outside Tapeo when we arrive on a warm Saturday evening in August.
The popular tapas bar, in a laneway of Barcelona's old quarter, is beloved for its authentic local dishes and reasonable prices.
Our group of eight is here on a shore excursion organised by Crystal, as part of a luxe Med voyage on Crystal Serenity.
It means we skip the queue and go straight to a reserved table in the dining room, away from the sardine-packed bar.
We debate the merits of red or white wine - or perhaps a jug of Sangria? - before settling on the local choice, an excellent Albarino, a dry white wine grown in Galicia. As soon as we sit down, small plates of luscious food start appearing on the table and disappearing into our mouths.
For the next hour, the flow seems endless.
Crispy ham-and-cheese croquettes, a gooey dome of burrata on a bed of balsamic-dressed tomatoes, fried potatoes drenched in spicy sauce, Catalan calamari, sticky pork ribs and Spanish garlic bread.
I'll pay for this indulgence tomorrow, but right here, right now, it's sensory delight.
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Tapas is more than a meal in Barcelona, it's a way of life. Part social experience, part tasting journey, a tapas dinner can offer the variety of a buffet with the camaraderie of a dinner party. Those in the know will tell you the best way to order tapas is to start with a few light dishes and then add more, and more, as you go. It's a meal that's meant to be shared.
After dinner, we stroll through the narrow medieval-era streets of the lively Gothic Quarter. The wine bars are busy, while the sole patrons in the nightclubs at this hour are clueless tourists.
The locals know to eat and drink first, dance later.
The writer was a guest of Crystal Cruises.
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