Verified in 4 cities.
Fideua is the Valencian-Catalan noodle paella: short fideos toasted dry in olive oil, then cooked in fish stock with squid and seafood until the noodles stand straight; in Spain we have verified places to eat it in Barcelona, Benidorm, Salou and Valencia.
Fideua is the Valencian-Catalan noodle paella: short fideos toasted dry in olive oil, then cooked in fish stock with squid and seafood until the noodles stand straight.
Fideua emerged in the 1930s on a Valencia fishing boat near Gandia. The crew's cook was making paella and ran out of rice, so substituted dried short fideo noodles. The dish travelled along the Catalan coast and by the 1950s every Mediterranean Catalan-coast town had its own version. The Barcelona reading layers shorter fideo noodles, dry-toasted in olive oil to nutty colour, then a fish-stock simmer with squid, prawns, and rouge fish. The serving comes with aioli on the side to dollop on top. Els Pescadors in Poblenou cooks the most lauded version in the city; the Barceloneta seafront rooms keep close.
Where to eat in Barcelona:
Where to eat Fideua in Barcelona: the editor picks
Fideuà swaps rice for short noodles cooked in fish stock in a paella pan, a Valencian dish from Gandía that Benidorm's seafood houses serve beside their rice.
Fideuà comes from Gandía, on the Valencian coast north of Benidorm. The best-known story credits Gabriel Rodríguez Pastor, cook on a Gandía fishing boat, who swapped the rice in an arroz a banda for noodles; another names Emilio López Bonías in the 1950s. It is cooked like a paella with fish stock, cuttlefish and prawns and served with allioli. In Benidorm, Casa Toni makes a marinera fideuà and Rice one with langoustine and pumpkin.
Where to eat in Benidorm:
Where to eat Fideuà in Benidorm: the editor picks
Fideuà is paella made with short hollow noodles instead of rice, cooked in fish stock with cuttlefish, prawns and shellfish and served with allioli, a staple of the southern Catalan coast.
Fideuà is attributed to the port of Gandia, where, the story goes, a boat cook around 1930 swapped rice for noodles so the captain would leave more of the arròs a banda for the crew. The dish spread along the Valencian coast and into southern Catalonia and the Ebro lands. In Salou it sits beside paella on the rice houses' menus, Roce and La Pasión among them.
Where to eat in Salou:
Where to eat Fideuà in Salou: the editor picks
Fideua is the noodle-paella of the Cabanyal fishing quarter: short thin fideos noodles cooked in seafood stock with prawns, squid and monkfish, served with allioli on the side.
Fideua was reputedly invented in the 1930s by Gabriel Rodriguez Pastor, a young Gandia cook who ran out of rice on board a fishing boat and substituted fideos noodles. The legend says the captain found the noodles preferable to rice and the dish stuck. The Cabanyal port quarter and Gandia south of Valencia both claim the origin. The dish is now cooked across Valencia, with the noodles tipped vertical in the pan as they cook, served with allioli, at La Riua and Casa Carmela.
Where to eat in Valencia:
Where to eat Fideua in Valencia: the editor picks
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