Mesón De Tapas (in El Corte Inglês)

• São Sebastião (Linha Vermelha/Azul)
• €
• Av. António Augusto de Aguiar 31, 1069-413 

Whilst enjoying a delicious juicy piggy sandwich in the basement of a department store on our recommendation, you might find yourself wondering why the next restaurant along is always full. Why do people crowd around the counters at all times of the day? We went along to find out. The answer? Almost certainty the four pintxos for €7.50 deal. Or the three pintxos for €6.20. And probably the gigantic glasses of wine. These are big pintxos constructed with big ingredients and even bigger flavours. Think Serrano ham on sautéed tomatoes. Tuna steak with cod roe and a Mexican sauce. Octopus and garlicky hollandaise with pickled onion. Even the humble tortilla omelette on baguette was delicious. We split 7 pintxos between us and were properly full (that will be all that bread), all for - with the mega-size glasses of wine - just €21.70. Head there for Happy Hour between 4-6pm and get one pintxos and a glass of wine for just €3.90.

Don’t forget to order: Four pintxos for €7.50 - everything was tasty but the top four were probably 1. Octopus and hollandaise. 2. Tuna steak. 3. Anchovies and tomato. 4. Serrano ham.

Featuring a mega-wine, the little bowls of crisps that come with everything, and a snap of the menu in case you fancy something other than pintxos.

Our #1 pintxos choice - the octopus with a garlicky hollandaise sauce, topped with pickled onion. Yum.