Best Valencian Restaurants Around the World

The best-scored valencian place in each of 4 cities.

Regional variations

Valencia city and the Albufera

Paella valenciana, all i pebre (eel stew), arroz a la zamorana, the bomba and senia rice fields of the Albufera. The historic rice country and the home of Bar Pinotxo-tier rice bars: Casa Roberto, Casa Carmela, La Pepica.

Alicante and the south

Arroz a banda (rice in fish stock, served separately from the fish), arroz negro, fideua. Alicante's rice culture is distinct from Valencia's, with a richer fish-stock base. Quique Dacosta's three-star restaurant in Denia anchors the modern scene.

Castellon and the north

Olla de la Plana (vegetable-and-meat stew), arroz al horno, the more inland mountain dishes. Less coastal, more pastoral.

Defining valencian dishes

Paella valenciana

Bomba rice cooked open in a wide steel pan over wood with rabbit, chicken, garrofo beans, green beans (bajoqueta), tomato, saffron, paprika, and rosemary. The original; rabbit and chicken are non-negotiable. No seafood, no chorizo.

Arroz a banda

Rice cooked in a concentrated fish stock (often morralla, the small Mediterranean rockfish), served separately from the fish that made the stock. Alicante-style.

Arroz negro

Rice cooked with squid ink, squid, prawns, and sofrito. Black, briny, served with aioli.

Fideua

Paella made with short, thin pasta (fideos) instead of rice, with seafood and fish stock. Originated on the Gandia coast in the 1930s.

Arroz al horno

Rice baked in a clay casserole with chickpeas, blood sausage, pork ribs, potato, and tomato. A Sunday lunch dish from the interior.

All i pebre

Eel stew with potatoes, olive oil, garlic, and paprika. The Albufera lagoon specialty.

Esgarraet

Salt cod, roasted red peppers, garlic, and olive oil, served cold or at room temperature as a tapa.

Coca de tomata

Flatbread with tomato, peppers, and olive oil, the Valencian relative of pizza. Eaten as snack or starter.

Horchata de chufa

Cold drink of tigernuts (chufa), sugar, and water. PDO product from the Alboraia huerta. Served with fartons (sweet glazed pastries).

Turron

Almond-honey nougat, Christmas confectionery from Jijona and Alicante. Two main styles: hard (Alicante) and soft (Jijona).

How to order

Order paella at lunch, not dinner. Restaurants that serve paella at any hour are tourist traps; locals eat paella between 1:30 and 3:30pm. Order for a minimum of two, allow 30-35 minutes, and ask for paella valenciana (the original) rather than paella mixta (the mixed seafood-and-meat version, which Valencians consider a tourist invention). The rice should be a thin even layer with a slight socarrat (caramelized crust) on the bottom; a deep, soupy, risotto-like rice is wrong. Eat from the edge of the pan inward.

The rookie mistakes: ordering paella at 8pm (it's a midday dish), asking for chorizo in the paella (cause for genuine offence; chorizo was added by Jamie Oliver in 2016 and Valencia has not forgiven him), expecting one-person servings (paella is shared from the pan), and ordering at a beachfront tourist place displaying a giant frozen paella photo (almost certainly reheated).

What to drink with it

Local Valencian wine: Bobal and Monastrell-based reds from Utiel-Requena and Yecla, plus fresh Mediterranean whites from Alicante (Moscatel). Sangria is a tourist drink; locals drink rose or white wine with paella. Beer (Estrella de Levante or Amstel) is the casual default. Horchata and fartons in the afternoon (not with paella). Coffee solo at the end of the meal; mistela (sweet Mediterranean fortified wine) or licor de hierbas as digestif.

Where to eat it

Valencia city for traditional paella (Casa Carmela, Casa Roberto, La Pepica, Restaurante Levante) and the Mercado Central; Alicante and Denia for Quique Dacosta and the southern rice culture; the Albufera lagoon villages (El Palmar, Catarroja) for the most rustic rice tradition. Outside Valencia: Madrid (Casa Lucio, La Barraca), Barcelona (Cal Boter, 7 Portes for the historic Catalan-style paella), and tourist beach towns across the Mediterranean coast.

A short history

Rice was introduced to Valencia by the Moors in the 8th century along with the irrigation network (acequias) that still feeds the Albufera lagoon and the surrounding huerta. Paella as a dish dates to the mid-18th century, when farmers in the Albufera cooked rice with whatever proteins were on the farm (rabbit, chicken, garden vegetables, snails, eel) in a wide flat pan over an open fire. The name comes from the Latin patella (pan). The dish industrialized as Valencian cuisine spread across Spain in the 20th century.

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