Dedicated snacking, in the manner of your average madrileños, is a surefire way to go local in Madrid, writes Roger Crosthwaite.

Blame chef Ferran Adrià and El Bulli, his three Michelin-starred restaurant on the Costa Brava. Whereas the mention of Spain once summoned up images of flamenco, bull-fighting and Picasso, now I think only of food.

A visit to Madrid was always going to be a test of my capacity. Luckily, my friends and I are under the guidance of someone who knows the ropes – Joanna Wivell, an expat who runs tours of tapas hotspots for tour company Insider's Madrid.

She points out that it's handy – also polite – to know the Spanish for what you want to order so as not to waste everyone's time at a busy bar, and not to be a shrinking violet about getting a waiter's attention. In Madrid's tapas bars, the message is clear – the meek go hungry.

When the sun goes down, the inner-city barrios of Malasaña and Chueca begin to hum. The crush at every bar is formidable and tapas, the Spanish gift to snacking on the move, is everywhere. Deep-fried pimento peppers, jamón, sardines, anchovies, all delicious and all bite-sized, to be consumed quickly between gulps of drink.

Despite our little band having set out at a disgracefully early hour – madrileños are definitely a late-night breed – nowhere is empty. Squeezing into any available space, we're soon eating with both hands, in between downing dobles of Spanish beer or, in a nod to tradition, a cold glass of sweet red vermouth from the tap.

The opportunity to sop up some culture along with the food and drink is at hand at Casa Patas, a restaurant, bar, flamenco theatre and, behind the scenes, the Fundación Conservatorio Flamenco, which holds workshops and courses.

You can tell how seriously they take flamenco by the hush that falls as soon as as the performance begins. Try to talk over the music, as we did, and dozens of pairs of fierce Spanish eyes will round upon you.

Ferran Adrià has put El Bulli into hiatus, but his acolyte is flying the flag for Spanish innovation. At his eponymous restaurant Sergi Arola Gastro, in the Almagro district the next night we enjoy classic Spanish with a twist: gazpacho with garlic ice-cream, cod and bean stew with rooster combs, or the ubiquitous snack patatas bravas – in cylindrical form. Arola also has his hands all over Madrid's latest and hippest cocktail bar, Le Cabrera, which features late-night tapas-with-a-twist as a snacking menu.

If you're a day person, you might want to cruise the Mercado de San Miguel, an Art Nouveau food market where 33 stalls sell everything from freshly shucked oysters, to jamón and marinated sardines. It keeps respectable madrileños hours, staying open until midnight during the week and 2am on weekends.

Where to eat tapas

At the Cervecería Santa Bárbara the tables and chairs spill out onto the plaza of the same name to take advantage of balmy Madrid evenings. Sitting makes eating anchovies dripping with oil on crusts of bread easier to manage. Taberna Ángel Sierra (Calle de Gravina 11) maintains the custom of offering chilled red vermouth from the tap, and serves a wicked Galician tuna pie. Bocaíto (Calle de Libertad 4) has celebrity cred, with the likes of Pedro Almodóvar leaving their signed photos on the wall. It also has the jamón ibérico, the melt-in-the-mouth ham made from pigs of the most impeccable breeding and cured for up to 48 months.

For more tapas tour ideas, go to www.insidersmadrid.com.

Where to eat

Cutting-edge
Sergi Arola Gastro, Calle Zurbano 31

Cool cocktails and midnight munchies
Le Cabrera, Calle Bárbara de Braganza 2

Daytime grazing
Mercado de San Miguel, Plaza de San Miguel

How to get there

Emirates operates 63 flights per week from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney to Madrid via Dubai. Return economy airfares start from $1968. Visit the Emirates website or call 1300 303 777. First- and business-class passengers can enjoy fare from a menu designed by the late iconic Spanish chef Santi Santamaria.

Roger Crosthwaite travelled to Spain courtesy of Spanish Tourism, Emirates and Relais & Châteaux.

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