GlynWe were walking to La Mina. We never got there.
That is not a complaint about La Mina, which we often go to and have written about at length. It is simply what happens on Rincón de Ruzafa. The square has several tapas bars within a few yards of each other, and on this trip the one that caught us was the one we had never tried.
Where it is
Stand with Café Creu behind you, facing Ale Hop, and walk up Avenida Ruzafa. About a hundred metres up the hill there is a small square on your right. That is Rincón de Ruzafa, and Los Mancheguitos is on it.
It is one of the quieter corners of the Old Town, close enough to everything but away from the noise of the main streets. If you have only ever eaten in Tapas Alley, it is worth the short walk for the prices alone.
The neighbours
Los Mancheguitos shares the square with three bars I have already reviewed, and between them they cover most of what you could want from an evening:
- Taperia La Mina, where we were heading: cheap, friendly, and popular with locals.
- La Croqueta, which does croquetas and very little else, and does them well. Order at the bar and listen for your shout.
- Zodiac House, with seating inside and out, staff who speak English, and its own drinks-and-tapas offers.
Los Mancheguitos is the newest to us, and it now has a place on the list.
The room and the crowd
The name means, loosely, “the little ones from La Mancha”, and the sign over the door is a knight on horseback with a lance, which in Spain can only really mean one thing. Inside it is small and modern: a steel-fronted bar, beer on tap, and big sepia prints of the Spanish countryside on the walls. There are tables outside, under cover.
The staff spoke very little English, which was no problem at all. There are English translations on the offers boards, but everyone else eating and drinking there was Spanish. In the Old Town, that is usually the only review you need.
The octopus
I had some of the best octopus I have eaten in a long while. It was boiled, served on bread and dressed with garlic oil, which is simpler than the paprika-and-potato version you find in most tapas bars. That alone was reason enough to go back, and we went back more than once.
The offers board
This is where it gets interesting for anyone watching the budget. The boards by the door, as photographed in late September:
- A small beer, glass of house wine, cava or cider, with a tapa: €2.30
- A tray of six tapas: €8.50
- A litre jug of beer or tinto de verano with six tapas: €11.50
- A bottle of house wine, cava or cider with six tapas: €12
- A litre jug of sangria with six tapas: €13.50
Twelve euros for a bottle and six tapas between two is about as good as it gets in the Old Town. The €2.30 drink and tapa is the one to know about if you are working your way round the square, because it lets you try the place without committing to a meal.
Beyond the tapas
There is a full menu as well, and we ate from it: chicken, on one of our visits. Prices are good across the board.
When it is open
The handwritten notice on the door when we were there said 12:00 to 16:00, then 19:00 to 23:30. That is the Spanish rhythm, so do not turn up at five o’clock expecting lunch. Hours can change, so treat those as a guide rather than a promise.
The feel
Very chilled. The staff were fine: not effusive, not unfriendly, just getting on with it. It is somewhere to sit for an hour with a drink and a plate of something, rather than somewhere to be entertained.
Would I go back?
Yes. And I still might not make it to La Mina, which is on the same square.
This is one of the reviews from our late September trip. The full write-up is here.
