Daily 12:00-16:00 and 19:30-23:30
La Pilareta on Carrer del Moro Zeit in Valencia's Carmen has served clochinas (small native mussels) at the counter since 1917, with lemon and pepper.
Try: Clochinas (Valencian native mussels)
Tip: Clochinas season runs May to September. Out of season, ask for mussels (mejillones).
Tue-Sun 17:00-02:00
Cafe Madrid in Valencia is the 1959 birthplace of agua de Valencia, the cava-and-orange cocktail invented here, still poured by the carafe.
Try: Agua de Valencia (cava + orange juice + gin + vodka)
Tip: Order by the carafe for two. The recipe has not changed since Constante Gil Rodriguez invented it.
Mon-Fri 08:00-20:00; Sat-Sun and holidays 17:00-20:00Cash only
Bunyolería El Contraste in Ruzafa is the rare Valencia bunyolería frying bunyols de carabassa (pumpkin fritters) and churros year-round, run by the fourth-generation Catalán family with house-made hot chocolate for dipping.
Try: Bunyols de carabassa (pumpkin fritters)
Tip: Order bunyols de carabassa with a cup of chocolate caliente. Orange bunyols are fried Tue and Fri only; outside Fallas the corner stand on Carrer de Russafa retracts to the shop interior.
Daily 09:00-22:00
Horchateria Daniel inside Mercado de Colon in Valencia pours the family's Alboraya horchata de chufa with fresh-baked fartons since 1949.
Try: Horchata de chufa with fartons
Tip: Stand at the counter; horchata is served iced with a long farton for dipping.
Mon-Sat 07:30-14:30, closed Sun
Central Bar inside the Mercado Central in Valencia is Ricard Camarena's market-counter project, with bocadillos de calamares built from squid metres away in the fishmonger's stall.
Try: Bocadillo de calamares
Tip: Stand at the counter; the bocadillo is the noon order, with a cana or a vermut from the barrel.