El Tap is a modern valencian restaurant in El Carmen, Valencia.
El Tap on Carrer de Roteros in Valencia's Carmen quarter is a chef-driven modern Valencian bistro with daily tasting menus and a strong arroz turn.
Signature dishes: Tasting menu, Arroz, Croquetas
Must order: The shorter tasting menu (around 38 euros at lunch) with the day's rice.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. Reserve a few days ahead for weekend lunch.
Address: Carrer de Roteros, 9, 46003 Valencia
Vuelve Carolina on Carrer del Correus in Valencia's centre is Quique Dacosta's modern tapas room near the town hall, with a long carte of tapas, arroces and a youthful bar.
Signature: Tapas modernas, Croquetas, Arroz
Order: The croquetas of jamon iberico and the steak tartar; a glass of natural Valencia white.
Tip: Reserve through the website; the room fills with lunchtime office crowds and evening tourists. Good vermut hour.
Casa Mundo on Carrer de Don Joan d'Austria near central Valencia is a 1953 institution founded by Valencia CF top scorer Edmundo 'Mundo' Suarez, famous for tapas and its bocadillo de calamares.
Signature: Bocadillo de calamares, Tapas valencianas, Vermut
Order: The bocadillo de calamares with a cana or vermut from the barrel.
Tip: Reserve ahead for weekends. Now in the third generation; the dining room doubles as a small Valencia CF and Mundo memorabilia museum.
Casa Carmela on the Malvarrosa beachfront in Valencia has cooked wood-fired paellas to order since 1922, with a 20-strong rice repertoire and a lunch-only beachfront kitchen.
Signature: Paella valenciana, Arroz a banda, Esgarraet
Order: The paella valenciana cooked over orange-wood embers, ordered when you book.
Tip: Book three weeks ahead for weekend lunch. Lunch only Tue to Sat 13:00 to 16:00; no dinner.
La Pepica on Passeig de Neptu in Valencia's Malvarrosa beach has served paella since 1898; Hemingway, Queen Sofia and Orson Welles all ate the rice here.
Signature: Paella valenciana, Arroz a banda, Arroz del senyoret
Order: The paella valenciana with rabbit, chicken and ferraura beans at lunch, with a half-bottle of Utiel-Requena bobal.
Tip: Book the beachfront terrace one week ahead. Closed Sunday evenings. Hemingway's signed photograph hangs in the inner dining room.
Casa Roberto on Carrer del Mestre Gozalbo in Valencia's Eixample has cooked Roberto Aparicio's traditional paellas since 1986, with a long chef's record in Valencian rice.
Signature: Paella valenciana, Arroz al horno, Croquetas
Order: The paella valenciana ordered ahead, with the croquetas and salmorejo to start.
Tip: Closed Monday all day and Sunday evenings. Reserve 48 hours ahead for paella; the dining room is small.
La Riua on Carrer del Mar in Valencia's old town has run a family-tavern rice kitchen since 1978, now in the third generation, with a dozen paellas on the carte.
Signature: Paella valenciana, Arroz a banda, Fideua
Order: The paella valenciana or the arroz a banda; the house Utiel-Requena tinto is honest.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The dining room fills with locals by 14:00; reserve ahead.
