It is smaller and lighter than lunch – most likely tapas. Locals usually take it sometime between 9pm and midnight. If they dine at home, dinner usually involves salad, ham, sausages or cheese, or even simpler – fruits and yogurt.
Restaurants are different in that regard. In Valencia it is next to impossible to find pasta or rice in the dinner menu. On the other hand, eggs are common part of dinner. Famous tortilla de patata, one of the gems of Spanish cuisine, is made from eggs and potatoes.
One of the special aspects of traditional Spanish dinner is shared meal. Friends having dinner together will order couple of large plates, called raciónes, which will then be set in the middle of the table so everybody have a few, or more than a few, bites of different dishes. That is a truly great way to avoid ordinary problems like being unable to decide what to eat.
Dinner may include salads and dishes with vegetables, fresh fish, some other meat or seafood. Among most popular dishes are huevos rotos, which is fried potatoes with fried eggs, or croquetas, lightly fried béchamel mixed with ham, mushrooms or cheese. Common sight during dinner is also omelet with fish and salad.
As no meal is proper meal without dessert, it may be taken too. Usually, after-dinner dessert consists of fresh fruits, but cakes and cupcakes are no strangers either.
Of course, friends might choose not to sit in a restaurant for dinner. Instead, they might find more fun to visit some (or all) of their favorite tapas bars, to have many smaller meals in well chosen atmosphere to their liking.
Since Valencians tend to be awake long into the night, dinner is often just a beginning of a great time.
