El Tigre

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Hola from Madrid! I’m studying here for a semester so my posts for the next few months will be from around this beautiful city! Being a struggling college student and all, since I got here two weeks ago all I’ve been hearing much about is this cheap tapas bar in the gay district of Madrid (Chueca) that I just had to check out. The deal seemed to be that for the price of a cerveza (beer, and only 1 euro), you get yourself a teeming plate of food to boot. It just seemed too good to be true, so the first chance we got, a couple of friends and I headed over to check El Tigre out for ourselves. We went prepared for the worst–we had heard tales of standing elbow to elbow with other patrons as you eat and trying to precariously balance your cerveza, food and coat.

But that’s the thing about preparing for the worst–it’s usually better than expected, which was the case at El Tigre. Yes, it was extremely crowded and smoky (it’s legal to smoke in restaurants, bars, basically everywhere in Madrid), but we somehow lucked out and scored one of the few tables after squeezing through the rowdy crowd. The six of us packed around a tiny table and looked around us at stuffed deer heads and other manly bar decor. The waiter came over, we ordered our cervezas and excitedly awaited our feast.

Two minutes later we had huge plates of bread with jamón ibérico and spanish tortilla on top. We immediately devoured those and had patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy red sauce and mayonaisse) plopped down on the table. Those were finished with record speed, as well, and we moved on to ham and cheese croquetas. We hoped more food would come, but it seemed that was the maximum food we would get from our first round of cervezas. No worries, though, we ordered another. The same amount of food came out, but we were a little disappointed that it was the same food as before.

I tried to take a picture before everyone dug in, but it was impossible…hence all you see is the leftover patata bravas sauce and half a ham & cheese croquette.

The food was nothing to rave about, but it certainly wasn’t bad. And for the price we paid, I didn’t expect five-star cuisine. It was all fresh, though, and hearty food typical of Madrid. If you’re in Madrid and want a quick, cheap meal and an unforgettable experience, El Tigre is the way to go.

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Filed under Madrid, Tapas

Tags: Food, Restaurant, Review